Kirkcaldy of Grange

LOU! S : A

AR B E

SCOTS-

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Presented to the

UNIVERSITY OF TORONTO
LIBRARY

by the

ONTARIO LEGISLATIVE
LIBRARY

1980

KIRKCALDY
OF GRANGE

FAMOUS SCOTS SERIES

The following Volumes are now ready: —

THOMAS CARLYLE. By HECTOR C. MACPHERSON.

ALLAN RAMSAY. By OLIPHANT SMEATON.

HUGH MILLER. By W. KEITH LEASK.

JOHN KNOX. By A. TAYLOR INNES.

ROBERT BURNS. By GABRIEL SETOUN.

THE BALLADISTS. By JOHN GEDDIE.

RICHARD CAMERON. By Professor HERKLESS.

SIR JAMES Y. SIMPSON. By EVE BLANTYRE SIMPSON.

THOMAS CHALMERS. By Professor W. GARDEN
BLAIKIE.

JAMES BOSWELL. By W. KEITH LEASK.
TOBIAS SMOLLETT. By OLIPHANT SMEATON.
FLETCHER OF SALTOUN. By G. W. T. OMOND.
THE BLACKWOOD GROUP. By Sir GEORGE DOUGLAS.
NORMAN MACLEOD. By JOHN WELLWOOD.
SIR WALTER SCOTT. By Professor SAINTSBURY.
KIRKCALDY OF GRANGE. By Louis A. BARB!

KIRKCALDY
OF GRANGE

BY

: LOUIS

A! BAR BE

FAMOUS
•SCOTS-

•SERIES-

PUBLISHED BY
CHARLES

SCRIBNER'S

NEW Y<

•

OH
" LIBRARY.

PREFACE

THE materials available for a biography of Sir William
Kirkcaldy of Grange are very unequally distributed over
the two portions into which his life naturally divides
itself. For the first of them, I have been obliged to
content myself with the rather meagre and fragmentary
information to be gathered from the old chroniclers. As
regards the incidents that occur during those earlier years,
I cannot, therefore, claim much novelty for my sketch.
By looking closely into dates, however, I have been able
to rectify some minor details, and to set forth events in
their proper sequence.

On the second part of Sir William's public career, the
documents preserved in the Record Office throw con-
siderable light. Some of them have been utilised, to a
certain extent, in connection with the general history of
the time ; but, so far as I know, no attempt has yet been
made to base on them a connected narrative of this
important period of Grange's life, or to draw from them
an explanation of his policy. By using his own corre-
spondence — both the letters which he wrote, and those
which were addressed to him — I have endeavoured to
represent the man as he wished to be understood by his
contemporaries.

It has not been my special object to justify Kirkcaldy's

6 PREFACE

conduct ; but I am not without the hope that the impartial
account of it which I have striven to give, may show how
unfair it is to form an estimate of him from a considera-
tion of the bare fact that he was, in turn, the champion of
two conflicting parties.

L. A. B.

8 WILTON MANSIONS, GLASGOW,
October 1897.

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^LIBRARY/;

CONTENTS

CHAPTER I

PAGE

THE KIRKCALDYS ...... 9

CHAPTER II
THE TRAGEDY AT ST ANDREWS . . . .18

CHAPTER III
THE CONSPIRATORS AT BAY .... 26

CHAPTER IV

IN FRANCE ....... 41

%

CHAPTER V

HOME AGAIN ...... 53

CHAPTER VI
THE UPROAR OF RELIGION .... 63

CHAPTER VII
HARASSING THE FRENCH ..... 73

CHAPTER VIII
AT CARBERRY ..... 80

8 CONTENTS

CHAPTER IX

PAGE

LANGSIDE— AND AFTER ..... 97

CHAPTER X
DEFECTION? ........ 108

CHAPTER XI
THE HOLDING OF THE CASTLE . . . .125

CHAPTER XII
THE MERCAT CROSS ..... 137

SIR WILLIAM KIRKCALDY
OF GRANGE

7. THE KIRKCALDYS

IN the parish of Kinghorn, on the northern shore of the
Firth of Forth, a farm-house known as the Grange still
marks the spot where, three centuries ago, the ancestral
seat of the Kirkcaldys stood. The greater part of the
present structure is comparatively modern ; yet it bears
a look of antiquity which indicates that its transformation
has been gradual and fragmentary, and not wholly un-
influenced by the design of the original builder. The
only date to be seen about it figures, accompanied with
an illegible monogram, on the lintel of what is now an
inner door, and commemorates some addition or alteration
made in 1687. Two portions, however, show traces of
even greater age, and may, with some plausibility, be
looked upon as relics of the old baronial mansion. They
are a dovecot, and a flanking tower of solid masonry. A
low recess, near the foot of the latter, is traditionally
believed to have been the entrance to a subterranean
passage leading down to the shore, beneath the village
which the cottages of the dependents of the family formed,
and on the site of which a few dwellings still cluster
together. That, in the days when the prosperity of
the Lairds of Grange was at its height, this village was
of some size and importance, may be inferred from the
fact that it possessed a chapel of its own, dedicated to
St Mary, and used as a burial-place for the family.

io FAMOUS SCOTS

The Kirkcaldys, who took their territorial appellation
from their estate of Grange, and who probably derived
their name from the ancient town near which that baronial
seat was situated, were amongst the oldest and most in-
fluential families in the county of Fife. As early as the
thirteenth century, Sir William de Kirkcaldy is mentioned
amongst the nobles on whom the fortune of war imposed
temporary submission to Edward I., and who were com-
pelled solemnly to take the oath of allegiance to him, on
the Gospels, in presence of his Commissioners. In 1440,
the name of Sir George de Kirkcaldy appears in a charter
which made over to him one half of the lands of Seafield
and of Tyrie.

About the middle of the sixteenth century, the family
of Kirkcaldy was represented by Sir James, who, having
married Janet, daughter of his neighbour Sir John
Melville of Raith, was introduced by his father-in-law
to the court and service of King James V. He was first
appointed to be a simple Gentleman of the Privy Chamber,
but was soon afterwards advanced to the more important
and responsible post of Treasurer. The confidence and
favour with which he was honoured by his royal master
excited the jealousy and the fear of Cardinal Beaton, to
whom he was opposed in religion, as an adherent to the
doctrines of the Reformation, and in politics, as an ardent
advocate of an alliance with England. All the efforts of
his rival to bring about his fall proved ineffectual as long
as the King lived. Under the regency of the Earl of
Arran, however, the influence of the Churchman pre-
vailed ; and the Treasurer was set aside to make room
for John Hamilton, abbot of Paisley.

Contemporary chronicles testify to the important part
played by Sir James Kirkcaldy during the troubled days
of his tenure of office. He is described by Melville as
* a stout bold man, who always offered by single combat,
and at the point of the sword, to maintain what he spoke.'

KIRKCALDY OF GRANGE n

That, in those turbulent times, the fiery and rather over-
bearing temper of which these words are only a veiled
and too partial description, should have brought trouble
upon him, was but a natural consequence ; and it is not
surprising to learn from the evidence of a remission
granted him in 1538, that respect for law and order
did not always guide his conduct. A few years later,
the energy of his character showed itself in the prompt
and decisive action which he took under circumstances
as critical for the State as they were dangerous to his
liberty, and even to his life. It was he who, with Sir
Thomas Erskine and Sir James Learmonth, on the
authority of a verbal message brought to him by a
youth, and with the King's ring for his sole warrant,
ordered the arrest of Sir James Hamilton, the powerful
and notorious Bastard of Arran, lodged him in the Castle,
brought him to immediate trial on a charge of being in
secret intelligence with the banished Earl of Angus, the
Douglasses, and other declared enemies of the realm, and
of having formed a plot to break into the King's chamber
to slay him, and sent him to a traitor's doom before
influence could be brought to bear upon the fickle
monarch in favour of his former favourite.

It was to the Treasurer that the delicate negotiations
between James V. and his uncle Henry VIII. were en-
trusted; and it was owing to his influence that, whilst
the King of England was at Pomfret, during his northern
progress, 'one of the King of Scots' most secret coun-
cillors ' appeared at the Court, to arrange a meeting be-
tween the sovereigns. Unfortunately for Sir James's
scheme, his opponents discovered it at the critical moment.
For the purpose of bringing him into discredit, they
accused him of favouring the new creed, as in truth he
did, though he had not yet made public profession of it ;
and they put his name on a list of noblemen whom they
urged the King to burn as heretics. But inconstant though

12 FAMOUS SCOTS

he was, James was not so easily to be turned against his
Treasurer, for he believed him to be loyal, trustworthy, and
thoroughly devoted to his sovereign's interests. At their
next meeting, he showed Sir James the black roll, and
jestingly, or perhaps only half jestingly, asked him what
objection he could raise to the Churchmen's suggestions.
Having thus been invited to plead his cause, Kirkcaldy
availed himself to the utmost of the opportunity which
the King's good-nature afforded him. Not only did he
draw a glowing picture of the advantages which would
accrue to both sovereign and people from an alliance with
England, and warningly point out the danger of rejecting
King Henry's friendly advances, he also denounced the
selfish policy of his opponents, represented the gross abuses
of the Roman Church, inveighed against the ungodly and
scandalous lives of the prelates, and advised the King, not
indeed to send the Cardinal and his bishops to the stake,
as they wished to do by their enemies, but, if he would
be well and rich, to take home again to the profit of the
Crown all vacant benefices, by little and little, as they fell
by the death of each prelate. The proposal to turn the
tables on the Churchmen, besides holding out a promise
of much-needed pecuniary help, contained an element of
grim humour, which, for the time at least, caught the
King's fancy ; and his resolve to adopt it was so far sincere,
that it led to a characteristic scene at his next conference
with the Cardinal and his prelates at Holyrood. Gradually
working himself into a passion as he rebuked them for
their treacherous and cruel advice, he disconcerted them
by his indignant words and impetuous threats of violence.
' Wherefore,' he asked, ' gave my predecessors so many
lands and rents to the Kirk ? Was it to maintain hawks,
dogs, and concubines, to a number of idle priests ? Pack,
you javells ! Get you to your charges, and reform your
own lives ; and be not instruments of discord betwixt my
nobility and me, or else, I vow to God, I shall reform

KIRKCALDY OF GRANGE 13

you, not as the King of Denmark doth, by imprisonment,
nor yet as the King of England doth, by hanging and
heading, but by sharper punishments ; if ever I hear such
a motion made by you again, I shall stick you with this
whingar ! ' And as he drew his dagger to emphasize his
meaning, the terrified priests, more careful of their personal
safety than of their dignity, precipitately fled from his
presence.

This temporary check did not discourage the Treasurer's
opponents. As a proof that they, too, were actuated by
disinterested and patriotic motives, they offered to make
the King an annual grant of fifty thousand crowns, out of
the rents of the Church, for the maintenance of hired
soldiers, in case King Henry should levy war against him
because of his refusal to keep his promise with regard to
a personal interview at York. Even this bribe might have
failed to win James over to their views but for a circum-
stance which deprived him for a while of the counsel and
support of the Treasurer. He had lately sanctioned the
betrothal of Helen Leslie, heiress of Kellie, who was a
ward of the Crown, to Kirkcaldy's second son ; and Sir
James found it necessary to go over into Angus on business
connected with this advantageous matrimonial alliance.
His rivals did not neglect to make the most of the oppor-
tunity which his absence from Court afforded. They re-
newed the charge of heresy against him, basing it on the
fact that he always carried an English version of the New
Testament about with him in his pocket ; they complained
of the haughtiness and arrogance which had characterized
his conduct ever since he thought himself secure in the
King's favour; they denounced his greed, of which his
anxiety to marry his son to an heiress with a dowry of
twenty thousand pounds was adduced as a proof; and
they questioned his fitness, in point of honesty, for the
responsible position to which he had been raised.

Seeing that James was wholly unmoved by accusations

14 FAMOUS SCOTS

which he knew to be prompted by malice and envy, and
which he met by unhesitatingly declaring his esteem and
affection for Kirkcaldy, to whom, if he had not done it al-
ready, he would willingly entrust the fortune of his ward,
they insidiously changed their tactics, and directed their
attack against what they well knew to be the weakest point
in the dissolute monarch's character. ' Sir,' said the Prior
of Pittenweem, himself a notorious and unscrupulous
libertine, 'the heiress of Kellie is a lusty, fair lass, and
I dare pledge my life that, if your Majesty will send for
her presently, the Treasurer shall refuse to send her to
you.' On this point, too, James asserted his absolute
confidence in Kirkcaldy's fidelity and devotedness ; never-
theless he so far yielded to the tempters as to consent to
their putting him to the test. The plan devised by them
was, that a letter should be written and entrusted to the
Prior of Pittenweem, who was to deliver it in person, and,
if the Treasurer obeyed the order contained in it, to bring
Helen Leslie to the King.

The event was precisely such as had been anticipated
when choice was made of an agent who, to his evil reputa-
tion joined the further qualification of being at deadly
enmity with the Laird of Grange. Sir James refused to
entrust his son's intended bride to the unprincipled
messenger, at whom he did not hesitate to cast the plain
and vigorous epithets which his flagrant licentiousness
deserved, and which the blunt and unconventional lan-
guage of the time justified. Rejoicing in the failure
of his mission and the success of his scheme, the
Prior hastened back to Edinburgh. On hearing his care-
fully and craftily framed report of what had taken place,
the King flew into a violent passion, and in the heat of it,
consented to the issue of a warrant for the arrest of Sir
James as soon as he returned.

When the Treasurer, who had no difficulty in pene-
trating the designs of his enemies, and who consequently

KIRKCALDY OF GRANGE 15

followed close on the Prior's heels, presented himself at
Holyrood, he was refused admittance. Disregarding the
prohibition, however, he made his way to the presence
of the King, who was just then at supper ; but only to be
received with ominous silence by the angry monarch. This
did not awe him into a passive submission, which would
have been interpreted into a confession of guilt. Respect-
fully, yet firmly, addressing his sovereign, he begged to
be told what offence he had committed, and why he had
suddenly been deprived of the favour with which he
had so lately been honoured. The reply was such as
he expected it would be. ' Why,' asked James, ' why did
you refuse to send me the maiden whom I wrote for, and
give despiteful language to him I sent for her ? ' Put in
this form, the charge was easy to meet. Kirkcaldy dared
anyone present to accuse him of disobedience to the King's
command. He had, he admitted, declined to give Helen
Leslie into the Prior's keeping ; but his refusal was justified
by the messenger's too well-known character — a character
which he did not veil his words to denounce. Moreover,
as he had stated at the time, he considered himself the
fittest person to accompany the young lady to Court ; and,
in proof that he had never been unwilling to yield com-
pliance to the King's wishes, he was able to answer in the
affirmative when asked whether he had brought the gentle-
woman with him.

James understood from his Treasurer's undaunted
manner, no less than from his straightforward explanation,
that a faithful servant had been falsely accused and un-
justly condemned; but if he could recall the warrant
which had been extorted from him, he could not prevent
the consequences of a more momentous step which he had
also been induced to take. Beaton and his party had pre-
vailed on him to adopt their policy, and decisively to reject
the proffered alliance with England — a slight to Henry,
which that imperious monarch was not slow to resent, and

1 6 FAMOUS SCOTS

which was the immediate cause of one of the most disas-
trous and humiliating defeats ever inflicted on Scotland.

Once again Sir James Kirkcaldy figures in connection
with the sovereign whom his advice, had it not been so
petulantly neglected, might have saved from the closing
disaster of his career. After the ill-fated battle of Solway
Moss, when King James wandered aimlessly and hope-
lessly into Fifeshire, ashamed to look any man in the face,
it was to Halyards, one of the Laird of Grange's estates,
that he came for rest and shelter. The Treasurer was
absent at the time, but the unfortunate and broken-hearted
monarch was received with loyal affection by Lady Janet,
an ' auncient and godlie matron,' and waited upon during
his brief stay by her eldest son, William Kirkcaldy. The
youth was destined to behold many a sorrowful scene in
after years, yet few so pathetic and so impressive as that
of which he was a silent spectator on the memorable
evening of the King's stay. At supper, James sat pensive
and dejected, unable to realise the full extent of the
disaster that had fallen upon him, and inwardly repeating
his 'continuall regrate': 'Oh! Oh! Fled Oliver? Is
Oliver taken? Oh! Fled Oliver?' Lady Grange, in a
kindly attempt to comfort him, begged him to take the
work of God in good part. But his incoherent answer
showed how little he had understood her meaning. ' My
portion of this world is short,' he said, ' for I will not be
with you fifteen days.'

To break the distressing silence which followed the
gloomy reply, one of the attendants inquired where his
Majesty wished preparation to be made for celebrating
Christmas, which was near at hand. With a ' disdainful
countenance,' as though the matter were one with which
he had no concern, ' I cannot tell,' he answered, ' choose
you the place. But this I can tell you ; before Christmas
you will be masterless, and the realm without a king.'
And he seemed so convinced of the truth of his prediction

KIRKCALDY OF GRANGE 17

that, although there was no sign of approaching death about
him, none dared contradict him for fear of his anger.

Next day the wretched King left Halyards, accompanied
by young Kirkcaldy. The Treasurer himself joined them
a little later ; and both father and son were amongst the
attendants who stood about the dying monarch in the
palace of Falkland, on the i3th of December 1542, and
vainly strove to soothe the mighty grief which found ex-
pression in the one despairing cry : ' Fie ! fie ! Is Oliver
fled— and taken ? Then all is lost— all is lost ! '

77 THE TRAGEDY AT ST ANDREWS

WILLIAM KIRKCALDY, who makes his first appearance in
the pages of history as the attendant of James V. during
the brief interval between the shameful rout of Solway
Moss and the last melancholy scene at Falkland, is usually
represented as being but a child at the time. No record
indicates the year of his birth ; but it is assumed to have
taken place about 1530. That, however, does not seem
to tally with the known dates of several events in which
he and other members of his family bore a part.

In the first place, if it be not impossible, it may be
looked upon as at least improbable, that a lad of twelve
was given to James as an attendant, under the peculiar
circumstances of his visit to Halyards. It is still less
likely that, whether the will attributed to James V. be
genuine, or fraudulent, as was afterwards maintained, such
a mere child should figure amongst the witnesses to it,
and should, as the document, under any circumstances,
fully establishes, have been allowed to be present at the
King's last moments. Nor does it agree with the descrip-
tion of Lady Grange as { an ancient matron,' that the eldest
of her nine children should have been so young at the time.

As we have already seen, it is mentioned by Melville
that, as early as 1542, a younger brother, James Kirk-
caldy, had obtained ' the ward and marriage of Kellie in
Angus,' and that his father, the Treasurer, had 'gone
there to take possession thereof whilst the negotiations
with Henry VIII. were still pending. The difficulty of
believing that the betrothal of James Kirkcaldy — if,
indeed, the passage do not actually refer, as some have

18

KIRKCALDY OF GRANGE 19

thought, to his marriage — took place when he was at
most but eleven years old, naturally suggests doubts as to
the accuracy of the date assigned to his elder brother's
birth. Such early matrimonial engagements were not,
it is true, unknown, or even uncommon, in those days;
but that the intended bride, at least, was no longer in her
girlhood may fairly be inferred from the details of the
discreditable plot against the Treasurer, in which the
Prior of Pittenweem made her play a part.

All that can be ascertained with regard to Kirkcaldy's
education is supplied by a letter, in which Randolph, the
English agent, writing to him, makes allusion to their
early acquaintance, as students, in France, at the time
that the University of Paris was presided over by the
Cardinal of Lorraine. As Randolph was born in 1523,
he would have been Kirkcaldy's senior by seven years,
a disparity of age which still further diminishes the
plausibility of the theory that the latter was born in 1530.
Yet another objection to it may be gathered from a
passage in Master Randolph's Fantasy, a poem recording
the events of what is known as the Round About Raid,
in 1566. Sir William Kirkcaldy is mentioned in it,
amongst the rebellious nobles ; and the special reference
to his ' horye head ' would unquestionably seem to imply
that he was more than thirty-six years old at the time.
Finally, it is known that Kirkcaldy's only daughter, Janet,
was married to the Laird of St Colme's Inch at the
beginning of the year 1561 ; and it is assuredly not easy
to make that fact accord with the assumed date of her
father's birth.

Such are the difficulties in the way of accepting Grant's
opinion, that Kirkcaldy's birth ' probably took place about
the year 1530,' or Froude's later statement that 'the
Treasurer's eldest son' was 'a boy of about seventeen, '
in the year 1546. None of the arguments adduced may
be convincing if considered singly; but, when all are

20 FAMOUS SCOTS

taken together, they assume sufficient weight to justify
the supposition that Kirkcaldy was at least as old as his
fellow-student, Thomas Randolph ; that he was a young
man of over twenty when he accompanied his King from
Halyards to Falkland; and that he was, not a lad of
sixteen or seventeen, but a man approaching his thirtieth
year at the time of the important event which has now to
be chronicled as the next in his career, and in which he
was destined to play important parts that would scarcely
have been entrusted to a ' boy.'

It is possibly owing to his absence on the Continent,
for the prosecution of his studies, that, after James V.'s
death, young Kirkcaldy's name disappears for a time from
the chronicles of the age. When mention of him is again
made, it is in connection with an event which, even in
those troubled days, when men were but too familiar
with deeds of violence, sent a thrill of terror through the
land, and which still stands out in terrible prominence
amongst the most striking examples of the lawlessness of
our forefathers, of the contempt which they displayed for
human life in the furtherance of their political schemes,
and of the disregard for the fundamental precepts of
morality which, by a strange inconsistency, they were
able to reconcile with an earnest zeal for religion. It is
as one of the assassins of Cardinal Beaton that William
Kirkcaldy first takes an active part in the political and
religious struggle in which he was destined to figure so
conspicuously.

By what means Beaton had risen to power, with what
uncompromising fixity of purpose, and in what cause he
wielded it, there is no necessity for recalling. Neither
would it serve any good purpose to re-open the con-
troversy which has raged about his memory. Even if it
were possible to attempt an impartial and unbiased
estimate of his work and character without being con-
fronted at the outset by the difficulty of obtaining any

KIRKCALDY OF GRANGE 21

evidence, either for impeachment or for defence, but that of
witnesses whose avowed partisanship at once marks them
as untrustworthy, there would be but little prospect of a
definitive settlement of the vexed question so long as one
side endorses the sentiments of him who wrote ' merrily '
of the 'godly fact' of his murder, whilst another holds
him up to veneration as a martyr.

In 1546, the Cardinal had attained a position of almost
absolute authority in the kingdom; but he had also
incurred the hatred of powerful and determined men, by
whom his death was resolved upon, and who were only
waiting for a favourable opportunity to carry out their
desperate designs. Foremost amongst them were the
Kirkcaldys. Whatever may have been the motives by
which the other conspirators were swayed, it seems im-
possible to doubt that the late Treasurer and his family
were actuated by a desire to be revenged, rather upon the
Statesman who had thwarted their policy than upon the
Churchman who opposed their religion. As early as
1544, long before the execution of Wishart had occurred
to lend a semblance of wild justice to the plot against the
Cardinal, it had been reported by the Earl of Hertford to
Henry VIII., that ' the Larde of Grange, late Thesaurer
of Scotland, wolde attempt eyther to apprehend or slee
him at some time when he sholde goe through the Fyfe-
land, and, in case he colde so apprehend him, wolde
delyver him unto His Majesty.'

Owing to various circumstances, amongst which, how-
ever, cannot be included any special precautions taken
by the intended victim, who, according to his enemies,
had reached that point of infatuated security which fatally
precedes destruction, the 'manie purposes devysed how
to cutt off' Beaton, all failed till Friday. the 28th of May
1546. On the evening of that; day, r Norman Lesley,
Master of Rothes, with iiy,e com^aniohs, came td St
Andrews, which William; ^kca%Md^i!iteredri^^

| KOV 0—1898

V&r-

22 FAMOUS SCOTS

him. John Lesley, who was better known, and whose
very presence would have caused alarm, did not venture
to join them until darkness had set in. Early on the
Saturday morning, the conspirators proceeded, in small
parties, to the abbey churchyard, in close proximity to
Beaton's castle. As soon as the gates of the stronghold
were opened and the drawbridge let down, for the purpose
of admitting workmen with the materials necessary for
carrying on the new works undertaken by the prelate,
William Kirkcaldy, with six accomplices, made his
appearance, and entered into conversation with the
unsuspecting porter, inquiring of him whether the
Cardinal were yet awake, whilst the others pretended to
be engrossed in watching the masons at their work.
During the short dialogue which followed, the Master of
Rothes and three other conspirators came forward. As
it was important that no alarm should yet be raised, they
passed on without appearing to notice Kirkcaldy or his
party, and, with assumed carelessness, took up their
position in the middle of the courtyard. Immediately
after this, a third band of conspirators, amongst whom
was the impetuous Lesley, hastily made for the gate.
Startled at their appearance — for, more careless or more
eager than those who had preceded them, they pressed
forward ' somewhat rudelie ' — and recognizing a man who
was known to have sworn the death of the Cardinal, the
porter ran to the chain, and endeavoured to raise the
drawbridge. In another moment he would have succeeded
in keeping out the fiercest of the conspirators, but, as
the bridge was slowly rising, Lesley cleared the gap with
one bold spring, and leaped into the courtyard. As a
prelude to the bloody work, the porter was felled to the
ground, the keys were snatched from him, and the
senseless body was cast into the moat.

This first deed of violence and murder is, by Froude,
attributed to Wiltiam Kirkcaldy. His assertion, however,

KIRKCALDY OF GRANGE 23

is only deduced from the description given by the
chroniclers of the respective positions taken up by the
conspirators, and not actually based on their actual words.
That Kirkcaldy, who, but a few moments earlier, was in
conversation with the porter, had a better opportunity for
attacking the man than any of the accomplices within the
gates, scarcely admits of denial. It may even be granted
that, being a willing party to the desperate enterprise of
killing the Cardinal, he would have felt but little hesitation
in preventing the gate-keeper from marring the whole plot.
On the other hand, however, it is quite as natural to sup-
pose, with Grant, that Lesley, in his fierce rush, made
directly for the warder, and that it was by him that the
unfortunate man's ' heid was brokin ' as he ' maid him for
defence.' The point, it may be thought, is but a trifling
one. Yet, considering the bloodless part taken by Kirk-
caldy in the subsequent proceedings, his biographer may
be allowed to dwell on it for a moment, not, indeed, with
the intention of showing him to have been less guilty,
morally, than any of his associates, but rather for the pur-
pose of clearing him from the charge of having, with his own
hand, shed a fellow-creature's blood on that terrible day.

Though numbering but sixteen, the conspirators were
resolute and armed ; and, it was an easy task for them to
overawe the peaceful workmen who, though they had run
forward to ascertain the cause of the tumult, manifested no
inclination to interfere on either side, but quietly allowed
themselves to be ' put forth at the wicket gate.' As soon
as this was accomplished, William Kirkcaldy made for the
postern, where he took up his position in order to prevent
the ' fox ' from escaping. His confederates, in the mean-
time, entered the Castle, and proceeding to the apartments
of the gentlemen of the household, of whom there were no
less than fifty, obliged them, by threats of immediate death
if they offered any resistance, to depart as peacefully as the
workmen had done.

24 FAMOUS SCOTS

By this time, the conspirators, feeling themselves secure,
had thrown away all restraint ; and their shouts of exulta-
tion, as they ran from room to room, awakened the
Cardinal who, as it was only * betwixt four and fyve
hours/ was still in bed when his castle was invaded.
Opening his window to inquire the cause of the unwonted
noise, he was informed that Norman Lesley had taken
possession of the place. His first endeavour was to seek
safety in flight. He ran towards the postern at which
Kirkcaldy was stationed; but perceiving the way to be
barred, he at once returned to his apartments, seized his
two-handed sword, and ordered his page to barricade the-
door with 'kists and other impediments.' Scarcely had
the furniture been piled up when John Lesley, with James
Melville of Carnbee and Peter Carmichael, arrived and
demanded to be let in. 'Who calls?' asked Beaton. —
1 My name is Lesley,' was the reply. — ' Is that Norman ? '
again inquired the Cardinal. — 'Nay,' he was told, 'my
name is John.' — ' I will have Norman,' he continued, ' for
he is my friend.' — ' Content yourself with such as are here,'
said the implacable Lesley, ' for other shall ye get none.'

There was a pause, during which Beaton hastily thrust
a box of gold under a heap of coals that was kept in
a hidden recess of the room, whilst the assailants were
fruitlessly endeavouring to burst the massive door.
Resuming the interrupted parley, the Cardinal called
out, 'Will ye save my life?' — It was John Lesley that
replied: 'It may be that we will.' — 'Nay,' returned
Beaton, hesitating to trust so ambiguous a promise, ' swear
unto me, by God's wounds, and I will open unto you.' —
' Then,' cried Lesley, ' that which was said is unsaid,' and
he ordered live coals to be brought for the purpose of
burning down the wooden barricade. Such, at least, is
the account given by Knox ; but Lindsay of Pitscottie
only says that the question from within was, 'Will ye
slay me ? ' and the answer from without an unconditional

KIRKCALDY OF GRANGE 25

'No.' Both agree that, at this moment, the door was
thrown open — a circumstance which seems to point to the
accuracy of the latter's narrative.

The assassins rushed in, whilst the doomed Cardinal,
sinking into a chair, exclaimed, ' I am a priest ! I am a
priest ! Ye will not slay me ! ' But he appealed to men
who knew no mercy. 'According to his former vows,'
John Lesley struck him repeatedly with his whingar, and
was seconded by Carmichael in the work of death. But
Melville, 'a man of nature most gentle and most modest'
— such is Knox's account of him — seeing that they were
both under the influence of strong passion, thrust them
aside rebukingly. 'This work and judgment of God,
although it be secret,' he said, 'ought to be done with
greater gravity.' Then, drawing his sword, and turning
the point of it towards the terror-stricken Cardinal, he
spoke the stern words: 'Repent thee of thy former wicked
life, but especially of the shedding of the blood of that
notable servant of God, Mr George Wishart, which, albeit
the flame of fire hath consumed it before men, yet crieth
it for vengeance upon thee, and we from God are sent to
revenge it. For here, before my God I protest, that
neither the hatred of thy person, the love of thy riches,
nor the fear of any trouble thou couldst have wrought to
me in particular, moved or moveth me to strike at thee, but
only because thou hast been, and remainest, an obstinate
enemy against Christ Jesus and his Holy Gospel.' Then,
with his hunting-knife, he ran the shrinking victim again
and again through the body. Mangled and bathed in his
life-blood, the Cardinal sank from his chair to the floor,
his dying lips repeating the protest which had only excited
his murderers to greater ferocity : ' I am a priest ! I am a
priest ! Fie, fie ! All is gone ! '

///. THE CONSPIRATORS AT BAY

THE men who had so deliberately planned and so boldly
perpetrated the murder of Cardinal Beaton, were fully
conscious of the gravity of the situation in which they
now found themselves. They knew that the crime which
they had committed in slaying the Chancellor of the Realm
bore with it the guilt of high treason, and that, if they
refused to give themselves up, they would be declared
rebels, and dealt with as such. But they had gone too
far to retreat. If safety were to be secured, it could only
be by union amongst themselves ; and instead of separat-
ing, to wander as outlaws through the country or to shut
themselves up singly in their fortalices, they determined
to maintain themselves in the stronghold which they had
captured. Its very position seemed to suggest and to
justify such a course. Situated on a rock-bound headland
a little to the north of the city of St Andrews, the imposing
castle which Bishop Roger, son of the Earl of Leicester,
'founded and gart bigged be,' in the year 1200, was
guarded on two sides by the sea, and, whilst practically
inaccessible to a hostile fleet, might, with comparative ease,
keep up communication with a friendly force, and receive
supplies from it. A deep moat and strongly fortified walls
protected it from the attack of a land army, and had more
than once before enabled it to hold out against superior
numbers. Food and ammunition had been abundantly
provided by Beaton himself, as a precaution against a
possible attempt on the part of the English ; and, within
the walls which had been known to give accommodation
to guests whose mounted attendants alone numbered four
26

KIRKCALDY OF GRANGE 27

hundred and twenty, there was ample room for quartering
the partisans by whom they expected to be joined.

To the advantages which the natural position and
elaborate defences of the fortress afforded, chance added
another, which, though of a very different kind, might be
depended upon to operate strongly in favour of the con-
spirators, and which may, very probably, have exercised
a not unappreciable influence upon their decision. It
happened that, at the time when Cardinal Beaton's castle
was seized upon, James Hamilton, the Earl of Arran's
eldest son, was residing with him. Instead of being sent
away, as were the other gentlemen of the household, he
was retained by the captors as a hostage. It was thought
that consideration for his son's safety would hamper the
Regent's action ; and not only prevent him from having
recourse to measures of extreme severity in the course of
the unavoidable siege, but also affect the conditions to be
granted, if the garrison were eventually forced to surrender.

Nor was that all. A scheme of Arran's own, for the
marriage of his heir with the young Queen of Scots, was
thought to be at the bottom of his opposition to the
alliance by which the King of England hoped to unite
the two Crowns. In the eyes of Henry, James Hamilton
was a rival to his own son Edward ; and they who had it
in their power to hand over the youth to his safe keeping,
possessed a further claim upon the protection and assist-
ance which his share in the plot for Beaton's destruction
led them to expect from him. Under the special circum-
stances of the case, there was, therefore, as much wisdom
as daring in what might, at first sight, appear the desperate
determination of holding the Castle.

The first to throw in his lot with the sixteen, was one
who had not, it is true, figured so prominently and
actively as they in the slaughter of the Cardinal, but who
was too much implicated in their action, and could too
easily be proved to be in actual fact their accomplice, to

28 FAMOUS SCOTS

expect anything but the severest treatment at the hands
of the avengers. Before the day was out, Sir James
Kirkcaldy, with his sons and brothers, arrived in St
Andrews, and was admitted into the Castle. Some more
of the Melvilles followed soon after; and by gradual
accessions to its strength, as the news of what had been
done at St Andrews spread through the country, the rebel
garrison increased to about one hundred and fifty fighting
men. The names of those connected with the murder
either as 'first interprisers,' or as 'part takers, maintainers,
defenders, victuallers, assisters, and counsel givers,' num-
bered thirty-five. They were set forth in the proclama-
tion, issued thirteen days after the death of Beaton, which
was publicly read, at the Market Cross of Cupar, by John
Paterson, Carrick Pursuivant, and which summoned the
persons mentioned in it to appear within six days at the
bar of Parliament, under pain of being declared rebels.
Amongst them were eight Kirkcaldys and four Melvilles.
That the majority of those who had taken refuge at St
Andrews, because they ' suspected themselves to be borne
at evil will/ were not mistaken as to the sentiments
entertained towards them by the party of which the
Cardinal had been the head, was proved by 'letters and
memorials' which were discovered amongst Beaton's
papers, and which disclosed a project, formed by him,
and sanctioned by the Council, for their treacherous
and summary removal, by death or imprisonment, on
the Monday following.

Amongst others, whom sympathy with its garrison drew
to St Andrews, mention is made by the chroniclers of
John Knox and his three pupils — George and Francis
Douglas, and Alexander Cockburn — of John Rough, a
Reformed Preacher, whom Bonner subsequently sent to
the stake, as a heretic; of Henry Balneaves of Halhill,
who had occupied the position of Clerk-Treasurer under
Sir James Kirkcaldy; and of Sir David Lindsay, who

KIRKCALDY OF GRANGE 29

found the subject of a poem in the tragedy that had
been enacted in the Castle, and gave expression to the
sentiments of the less fanatical section of his party in the
well-known lines : —

* As for the Cardinal, I grant
He was the man we well might want j

God will forgive it soon.
But of a truth, the sooth to say,
Although the loon be well away,

The deed was foully done.'

The measures taken by the Regent with a view to the
punishment of the rebels did not bear evidence of much
zeal or energy on his part. Nearly three months had
elapsed since the murder of Beaton when, on the 2 1 st of
August, a proclamation was issued, calling upon the
vassals of the Crown to assemble within a week for the
purpose of forcing the garrison of St Andrews into sub-
mission. But, even that does not appear to have been
followed by any very strenuous exertions. A body of
troops was, it is true, sent against the rebels ; but the
military operations must have been conducted in a very
inadequate manner, for, at Martinmas, according to
Pitscottie, ' all men cryed out and desired the Governour
to punisch sick injuries done within the realme ; and also
the Queine perswadit the Governour to put remeid heirto.'

It was mainly by the Catholic clergy that pressure was
brought to bear upon Arran. By voluntarily undertaking
to contribute ^2000 monthly towards the support of the
royal troops, as long as the siege of the Castle should last,
the prelates gave practical proof of their determination
not to allow the assassins of their religious and political
leader, the Cardinal, to escape with impunity. Then,
at length, ' an army ' marched into Fifeshire, to invest the
stronghold in real earnest ; and ' tua gritt cannones, to wit
Cruik Mow and the Deafe Meg,' were brought to bear

30 FAMOUS SCOTS

upon it. The massive defences, it is true, suffered but
slight injury from the lead-cased stone shot which the
primitive artillery of the time discharged against them ;
but the mere fact of its being cut off from all communi-
cation on the land-side gradually began to tell on the
garrison ; and the leaders found themselves obliged to
make urgent appeal for assistance to their friend and
protector, Henry VIII. As early as the beginning of
September, in consequence of the proclamation which the
Regent had issued shortly before, and which indicated
the commencement of hostilities, they had sent letters to
the English Council ; and on the seventeenth of that
month the King was advised to send ' at least some small
force, which should not onely appeare a comfort to them,
but be a defence against the Scottis on the sees.' The
immediate effect of this recommendation was the dispatch
of eight ships, with the ' Maister of Wark of Ingland,'
whose object, according to the Diurnal of Occurrents, was
'to spy' the Castle. It may be doubted whether this
first squadron brought any material assistance to the
besieged ; for, when it returned, about the end of October,
'William Kirkcaldy of Grange, younger, past to Ingland,
for supplie,' with it, accompanied by Henry Balneaves
of Halhill and John Lesley.

On their arrival in London, the envoys lost no time in
informing Henry of the object of their mission. Nor
does the King, on his side, appear to have acted less
expeditiously. Before the end of the month, he wrote to
Admiral Tyrrell, informing him that he had ' been moved
to send forth presently to the sees the number of six ships
furnished for the wars, that is to say, the Pauncey, the
Mynyon, the Hart, the Jennet, the Dragon, and the Lyon,'
and had appointed him to the command. According to
further instructions, Tyrrell, on reaching the Firth, was to
land parties at unprotected points on either shore, 'to
spoil and burn small villages and houses,' and thus, not

KIRKCALDY OF GRANGE 31

only strike terror into the population, but also create a
diversion in favour of the Castle, from the siege of which
forces would probably be withdrawn, and sent to check
the progress of the English raiders. The Master of
Rothes and the Laird of Grange were to be told that his
Majesty was ' sorry to understand their care and trouble
for their defence,' and that 'conforme to the request of
Mr Kirkcaldy to helpe them with some vitail and
munition,' one of the six ships was laden with supplies,
which were to be handed over in such quantity as the
Admiral might judge necessary.

Another paragraph in the same letter explains one of
the reasons of the King's liberality, and shows on what
condition Kirkcaldy had been able to secure help from
England. ' And, because the sayd Mr Kirkcaldy, who is
sone and heire to the Lard of Grange aforesaid, at his
late beeing with us, signifyed by his letters, on the behalf
of the Master of Rothes and his father, that for a token
of their service and goode wille to us, they wold delyver
in hostage the sonne of the Erie of Arran, ye shal cause
request to be made, in our name, for him, setting forth
that besides the performance therby of the promesse of
the sayd Kirkcaldy, and the confirmation of our credit
and estimation of them, they shal doo a thing so much to
our contentation, as shal give us occasion the nerer to
stykk unto them, and temploye our force to the repulse
of their enemyes the more willingly.'

Whilst Henry Balneaves and John Lesley remained in
England 'for forming and perfyting all contracts betwixt
the defenders and King Henrie,' Kirkcaldy returned to
St Andrews. The besieged had not yet been able to
make that 'plaine passage by an yron gate, through the
east wall to the sea, which greetly releeved them ' at a
later stage of the blockade ; and, when the English ships
arrived, there was consequently some difficulty in effecting
communication with them. Ultimately, however, Kirk-

32 FAMOUS SCOTS

caldy succeeded in landing with the supplies ; but it was
1 not without some losse of men/

On the side of the besiegers, Kirkcaldy's departure
which, according to the Diurnal of Occurrents, took place
on the 26th of October, had filliped the leaders into a
display of energy. On the Tuesday following it, the
Governor and the Lords with him, anxious to put an end
to the siege before the arrival of supplies from England,
sent to offer the rebels the restitution of their lands,
heritages, tacks, benefices and moveables, on condition
that they should surrender the Castle and give up young
Hamilton. The proposal was met with a curt refusal.
Three days later preparation was made for a vigorous
attack ; and four cannons, a battering culverin, two smaller
culverins, and some double falcons were sent to the west
trenches for the purpose of battering the sea-tower that
stood at the north-west, and also the west wall. Then,
when all this artillery had been brought into position,
the cannonade began from two sides at once. On the
first day it lasted without cessation from seven in the
morning till four in the afternoon. The fire was un-
usually effective. That from the new battery brought
down all the battlements and the top-storey of the sea-
tower, and the whole roof of the apartments overlooking
the shore. On the land-side the feathered bolts shot from
the balistae at the hall and chapel, broke in the roof,
and drove those of the garrison who were stationed at
that point to the safer shelter of the inner walls. Nor
were the besieged inactive. Pointing their own cannon
at the attacking artillery they retaliated by killing 'John
Borthwick, principal gunner, and sundry of the soldiers
and men of war,' and by wounding the Earl of Argyle's
master-gunner so seriously that he was reported to be still
bedfast nearly two months later. On the morrow the
Governor's artillery again opened its fire, and kept it up
as vigorously, though not more murderously, than the day

KIRKCALDY OF GRANGE 33

before. Further damage was done to the high parts and
roof, but the garrison once more escaped serious injury.
The assailants were less fortunate, for they again lost a
gunner, James Law, and three other men with him. Such
* great slaughter made upon their gunners ' disheartened
the leaders of the royal troops ; and tacitly recognising
their inability to take the Castle by open force, ' they gave
up further shooting with great artillery, and continued the
siege with blockading and small fire arms.'

The provisions which Kirkcaldy had obtained and
brought from England afforded but brief relief to the
beleaguered garrison. From the 22nd of November to
the i oth of December there was no flesh-meat within the
Castle ; and the other supplies gradually dwindled down
to ten boles of meal and five puncheons of wine. But
the desperate defenders showed no sign of wavering.
As a result of their great watching and waking, of the
want of flesh, and of the bad quality of the fish which
had become their chief diet, Walter Melville — one of the
leaders — and twenty men were stricken with a deadly
sickness; but this only moved their comrades to use
greater exertions and, in the words of one of them, daily
to make slaughter of their enemies. Nor were their
efforts limited to that. Whilst some were fighting others
were working at the construction of a postern door,
and of a trench leading from it to a rock lying off
the kitchen tower. When this was at length completed
two men were able to set out nightly in a small boat,
and, landing at Tentsmuir, to obtain a scant supply of
flesh and flour from a secret friend, the Laird of Mont-
quhanny.

About the middle of December the besieged were
reduced to such extremities that a well-conducted and
vigorous attack could scarcely have failed to give Arran
possession of the Castle. Fortunately for them, however,
he was not fully aware of their desperate condition, whilst,

c

34 FAMOUS SCOTS

on the other hand, the circumstances in which he was
himself placed made him long for the termination of
the protracted siege. A violent pestilence that broke out
in St Andrews and threatened to spread through the
beleaguering army, gave him a plausible excuse for open-
ing negotiations without appearing to be driven to it
either by the obstinacy of the rebels or by the repeated
protests addressed to him and his Council by Henry
VIII. on their behalf.

On the i yth of December, Lyon Herald approached
the walls and sounded a parley. That no undue haste
on their part should reveal how anxious they themselves
were for a cessation of hostilities, the leaders did not
condescend to notice him, and he was obliged to return
to the Governor and the Council with the report that he
could not obtain speech of them. Later on in the day a
second attempt was more successful ; and consent was
obtained to an interview between the rebel leaders and
two envoys from the camp — the Justice-Clerk and the
Provost of Aberdeen. The assumed indifference of those
within the Castle caused the negotiations to drag on
slowly through several days ; and, at the very last
moment, the demand that William Kirkcaldy should be
handed over as a hostage, was on the point of making
them fall through altogether. Finally, however, on the
22nd of December, a truce was agreed upon. The
conditions were that the garrison should retain the
Castle until the Regent obtained from the Pope absolu-
tion for all who had been concerned in the murder of
Cardinal Beaton ; that they, their friends, families, ser-
vants, and others pertaining to them, should never be
pursued by law, but should enjoy all the privileges,
spiritual and temporal, of which they had been in posses-
sion before the murder, 'even as if it had never beene
committed;' and that, whilst James Hamilton was still
kept as a hostage on the one side, David and James

KIRKCALDY OF GRANGE 35

Kirkcaldy should be delivered to the Regent on the other,
as pledges to insure the surrender of the Castle when the
papal absolution arrived.

As soon as the royal army had been withdrawn, those
who had held the Castle so valiantly came forth in great
exultation. The lawless conduct of some of them was
wholly unworthy of the brave men they had shown them-
selves to be. 'They became so proud,' says Pitscottie,
'that no man might live besyd thame, for they would
isch out and ryd throche the countrie quhen they pleased,
and sumtymes raise fyre and burne, and vtherwhylles
ravisch vomen, and vse thair bodie as they pleased. And
some godlie men in the castell, that thought not thair
lyffe nor conversatioun honest, reproved them sharplie,
thairfoir, saying, if they left not aff, it could not be bot
God would punisch thame for the same quhen they
luiket least for it. Notwithstanding of thir admonitiounes,
they continwed still in thair former doeingis the space of
thrie quarterns of ane yeir thaireftir.'

As might almost be inferred from the conditions of the
armistice, neither besiegers nor besieged really looked
upon it as a decisive step towards the termination of the
struggle. The object on either side was merely to gain
time and to make preparation for greater efforts. Scarcely
was the truce signed when the rebel leaders wrote to their
agent, Balneaves, instructing him 'to solicit the King's
Majesty to write to the Emperor, to write to the Pope for
the stopping and hindering' of their absolution. He
was further to impress on Henry the absolute need in
which they stood of ' support and aid of money.' This
money was to be sent by sea ; and the greatest precautions
were to be taken to avoid exciting suspicion. A ship was
to come to St Andrews and to put out a boat, for the
ostensible purpose of opening negotiations with the Castle,
but, in reality, to hand over the money. After its de-
parture the Governor was to be informed that its object

36 FAMOUS SCOTS

had been to offer victuals, but that they had been
refused. Nor was that all. The subsidy was not to
be in English currency, of which a sudden influx would
necessarily be noticed, but was to consist of the coins of
France and other countries. This money, which would
be accounted for as proceeding from the Cardinal's
coffers, was to be used partly for the revictualing of the
Castle, and partly for distribution amongst friends, so that
they might be ready, when his Majesty's force came, to do
such things as his Majesty might command them. In
answer to this appeal Henry sent at least two remittances
of money — one of ^1180, and another of ^1300. This
was for pay to the garrison, which consisted of eighty foot
and forty horse, and of which each man received eight
pence a day. The Council Books show that further
sums were transmitted for the leading men; that Norman
Lesley's share was ^280; and that Sir James Kirkcaldy
got £200 as his.

Whilst Balneaves was soliciting help from England,
Panter, on behalf of the Regent, was appealing to France.
On the strength of the old alliance between the two
countries, Francis was requested to send supplies, not
only of money, but also of arms, and to place some of
his own experienced military leaders at the disposal of
Scotland.

About the middle of June 1547, the papal bull upon
which so much had been made to depend, reached
Scotland, and was communicated to the rebel leaders,
together with a summons that they should surrender the
Castle, in accordance with the promise given by them
the previous December. On making themselves acquainted
with the document, they found it contained a remarkable
clause, in which Paul III. professed to remit the crime
that could not be remitted, ' Remittimus irremissibile? It
was, in all probability, nothing more than a theological
conceit, in the Italian taste. But those whom it most

KIRKCALDY OF GRANGE 37

nearly concerned read it otherwise. It was not, they
declared, the sure and sufficient absolution which the
Governor and his Council had undertaken to procure for
them, but merely a trap set for their destruction. They
consequently refused to give up the Castle, alleging that
the condition upon which they had agreed to do so had
not been fulfilled.

When the little garrison thus resolved once more to defy
the Regent's power, the armament upon which he depended
to force them into subjection, was ready to set sail, if it
had not already left the French port. On the 2gth of
June, a fleet consisting, according to some chroniclers of
twenty-one galleys, according to others, of six galleys and
two great ships, appeared in sight of St Andrews. Leo
Strozzi, who was in command, at once disposed his vessels
in such fashion that their artillery should command all
the outworks of the Castle, and early next day sent another
summons to the garrison to surrender. The bold defenders
replied that he had no lawful authority over them, and
that they consequently declined to obey his orders. That
was the signal for the commencement of active operations
on the part of the French squadron. Two days' firing,
however, produced no further effect on the fortress than
the demolition of portions of the roof; whilst the defenders
inflicted serious injuries on the assailants, and besides
killing several rowers and soldiers, completely crippled one
galley.

Strozzi, by this time, had recognized the futility of con-
tinuing the siege from the sea alone, and at once began
to make preparation to attack it from the land side
as well. The measures which he took showed that he
meant more serious work, and that he understood his
business better than the Scottish engineers who had con-
ducted operations the summer before. Indeed, he did
not hesitate to express his contempt for them as ' unexpert
men of war,' to whom it had not occurred to mount

38 FAMOUS SCOTS

batteries on the steeples and all the high places that
overlooked the Castle. Nor did he think much better
of the besieged for not bringing down the steeples to
prevent such advantage being taken of them.

In getting his own batteries into position, Strozzi's in-
genuity was put to the test. His guns had to be taken
through streets completely exposed to the fire of the
enemy; and if men were employed to transport them, there
would necessarily be very heavy losses amongst them. To
avoid this, he set up powerful windlasses at the extremity
of each street, and by their means was able to draw his
cumbrous guns along without sacrificing the life of a single
soldier. When this was noticed from the Castle by the
Italian engineer, who had been sent from England to assist
the garrison, he was not slow in realising the danger of the
situation. ' Defend yourselves, Masters,' he exclaimed, ' for
now you have to deal with men of war who are very
skilful and subtle, for they work their cannons without
any men near them.' But the confederates had dared too
much to be intimidated by this new device, and they
answered resolutely that they should hold the Castle to
the last against the united forces of Scotland and France.

The laborious task of raising heavy guns on to the tower
of the Abbey Church and the steeple of Saint Salvator's
College must have taken a considerable time, for the 24th
of July is given as the date of the beginning of the siege
from the land side. It had now become evident that the
end could not be far off. From their high position the
besiegers commanded even the courtyard of the Castle;
and it was only with the greatest danger that the besieged
could make their way from one point to another. The per-
sistent cannonade drove them first from the block-house,
then from the sea-tower, and finally effected a breach in
the wall, of which a large portion came crushing down,
with a mighty noise. A tremendous storm that broke
out checked the progress of the assailants for a few hours,

KIRKCALDY OF GRANGE 39

and probably saved the garrison from the slaughter
which must inevitably have taken place if the breach
had been stormed and the Castle captured by force.
Even at this last extremity, there were some within
the walls who counselled a last effort, and urged that
the whole available force should join in a sortie. But
the desperate proposal though discussed was not adopted;
and when the storm abated and preparation was again
being made for a final assault, a flag of truce announced
that, for the first time, the rebel leaders demanded a
parley with a view to the surrender of the fortress. But,
not even yet was their spirit so utterly crushed that
they were ready to consent without demur to any terms.
Neither with the Governor nor with any of their own
countrymen would they condescend to negotiate, for
these had deserted them, 'Which, I am assured,' said
the Laird of Grange, 'God shall revenge ere it be
long.' It was to Strozzi himself that they surrendered.
According to Knox the terms of the capitulation were :
That the lives of all that were within the Castle, as well
of the English as of the Scots, should be saved ; that they
should be safely transported to France ; that, at the King
of France's expense they should be safely conveyed to
any country they might desire, other than Scotland, in
case that, upon conditions which should be offered by the
King of France unto them, they could not be content to
remain in service and freedom there.

Thus, on the 3oth of July, 1547, ended the siege of
the famous Castle. Entering it at once, the French
'spoylled verrie rigorouslie.' According to Pitscottie,
'they gott both gold, silver, cloathing, bedding, meitt
and drink, with all veapones, artaillie, and victuallis, and
all vther plenisching, and left nothing behind thame that
they might gett carried away in thair gallies.' The
' Diurnal of Occurrents ' estimates the value of the spoil
at one hundred thousand pounds. By command of the

40 FAMOUS SCOTS

Governor and Council, the Castle itself was razed to the
ground. * Whether this was to fulfil their law, which
commandeth places where cardinals are slain so to be
used, or for fear that England should have taken it, as
they did Broughty rock, we are uncertain,' says Calder-
wood, who reports the fact.

IV. IN FRANCE

To Arran and his Council, the terms obtained from
Strozzi by the rebel garrison seemed to be far too lenient ;
and they accordingly sent John Hamilton of Milburne to
the King of France, who was now Henry II., and to the
powerful Cardinal of Lorraine, urging them to repudiate
the Captain-General's action, and, in spite of the promises
by which they had finally been induced to surrender, to
handle the prisoners sharply.

Owing to circumstances which the chroniclers do not
explain, the journey to France appears to have been
unusually protracted ; for, although Strozzi is said to have
sailed from St Andrews about the middle of August, it
was not till November that the galleys are reported to
have reached Rouen. On his arrival, the six score
Scotsmen whom he brought with him, learned that they
were not to be given the option of entering into the
service of France, or of passing, at the King's expense,
into any other country they might choose ; and that the
murder of Cardinal Beaton, and the subsequent rebellious
defiance of the royal authority were not to be allowed to
go unpunished. John Knox and Balfour, together with
the prisoners of lower degree, were kept on the galleys as
slaves, and sent to work on the Loire. Their fate was
commemorated in the doggerel couplet given by Calder-
wood as the ' song of triumph ' of the Papists : —

' Preests, content you now ; preests, content you now,
For Norman and his companie hath filled the galeyes fow.'

In reality, however, Norman Lesley, with the Laird of Pit-

42 FAMOUS SCOTS

millie, and the Laird of Grange for his companions, was
conveyed to Cherbourg. Henry Balneaves was imprisoned
in Rouen itself, where he spent his enforced leisure in
writing a * comfortable treatise ' on Justification by Faith
without Works. James Melville was relegated to the
Castle of Brest, but very shortly after 'departed from
the miseries of this life.'

To William Kirkcaldy, Peter Carmichael, Robert and
William Lesley, what was then one of the most formidable
fortresses in the kingdom, was assigned as a place of con-
finement.

Built on a huge rock of granite, in the blue, savage
Norman Bay, there stood the imposing structure upon
which the admiration of the Middle-Ages bestowed the
name of the Wonder of the West. Situated some four
miles from the nearest point of the mainland, it was
guarded by the sea at high water, but became more
inaccessible still when, for a couple of hours each day,
the ebbing tide left nothing but a wide expanse of
treacherous quicksands between it and the coast. This
was the abbey -fortress of Mont Saint- Michel, that
' wonderfully strong place upon the sea-shore,' which
had proved the bulwark of Normandy during the long
struggle between England and France, and in which
insignificant garrisons of determined men had, time and
again, successfully held out against the assaults of be-
leaguering thousands. Here it was that the four Scottish
prisoners were destined to spend many months of captivity.
But the very fastness of their isolated prison was not
without advantage for them. It inspired the Governor
with such confidence that he deemed it unnecessary to
deprive them of the restricted liberty that the rock
afforded. The only annoyance to which they were
submitted, was one which affected them through their
religious opinions, and which they shared in common
with the Scottish prisoners in other parts of the country.

KIRKCALDY OF GRANGE 43

Knox relates that those who were in the galleys were
threatened with torments if they would not give reverence
to the Mass, and that they would have been compelled
to kiss a statue of the Virgin, if one of them had not
seized it and cast it into the Loire. At Cherbourg, too,
the governor of the castle did his utmost to induce Sir
James Kirkcaldy and his companions to attend Mass
with him. When they refused to do so, he threatened
to compel them ; but they warned him that, if he chose
to adopt such a course, they would, by their irreverent
behaviour, let all present know their contempt for the
ceremony. William Kirkcaldy, with his three fellow-
captives, was subjected to the same importunities by
the captain to whose keeping he had been entrusted
at Mont Saint-Michel. With equal firmness, though in
a more bantering tone, he replied for himself and for
them, that 'they would not only hear Mass every day
but also help to say it, providing they might stick
the priests ; otherwise not.'

Being allowed free intercourse with the soldiers of the
garrison and with the other inmates of the fortress, Kirk-
caldy and his friends succeeded in buying the services
of a messenger, by whose help they were able to hold
communication with the other prisoners, from whom they
had been separated at Rouen. Availing himself of the
means thus afforded, Kirkcaldy wrote to John Knox,
to ask his advice with regard to a matter about which it
seems difficult to understand that he should have enter-
tained any doubt or felt any scruple. He wished to
know whether he and those with him might, with a safe
conscience, break their prison. Knox replied that they
would incur no moral guilt by embracing any opportunity
which God should offer them to regain their liberty,
providing they used no unlawful means, and, above all,
refrained from shedding blood in the attempt.

Sir James Kirkcaldy was also informed of his son's

44 FAMOUS SCOTS

intention ; but he appears to have given the bold scheme
but scant encouragement. He feared that, even if it
proved successful, those who still remained in captivity
would be more harshly treated ; and it was out of de-
ference to him that Knox so earnestly deprecated any
recourse to violent measures.

To venture across the quicksands alone would have
been courting death; and as a first step towards the
execution of their daring project, the prisoners had to
secure the assistance of a guide. In that, they do not
appear to have encountered any serious difficulty. One
of the young men engaged in an inferior position about
the Castle, in all probability the same who had enabled
them to communicate with their friends, undertook to
show them a safe way to the mainland if they should
succeed in eluding the vigilance of their keepers. For
many months circumstances prevented the carrying
out of a plan which the restrictions imposed by Knox,
and accepted by the four captives, rendered particu-
larly hazardous and difficult ; and the second winter
since their departure from Scotland still found them
fretting for liberty on the isolated rock. At length, how-
ever, their knowledge of the customs of those amongst
whom they were living told them that the time for action
was approaching. In those days, even more than at
present, and particularly in Normandy, where it is still
widely celebrated, the festival of the Three Kings — lejour
des Rois — as the Epiphany is called, was kept as a popular
holiday, with much merry-making and carousing. The
nature of the quaint ceremonial which formed a part of
the feast, led to even more than the customary indulgence
on the part of the revellers. Every time that the mock
monarch of the evening, elected by favour of the bean
hidden in the Twelfth-Night cake, put his goblet to his
lips, the cry was raised, « le Roi boit I le Roi boit I ' and
all his faithful subjects showed their loyalty, and their

KIRKCALDY OF GRANGE 45

appreciation of his liberality, by draining their own cups.
Even with no stronger beverage than the cider of the
country, such repeated potations could not be indulged
in with impunity. From their experience of the preced-
ing year, Kirkcaldy and his friends knew that, when the
feast closed, the garrison and the household were in no
condition to give much attention to their prisoners.
They laid their plan accordingly. To abstain from join-
ing in festivities which, though purely social, were in-
timately connected with a religious feast, they could put
forward the same reason that had stood them in good
stead before — their utter contempt for popish mummeries ;
and could, therefore, retain the full possession of their
mental and physical energies whilst their keepers were
sinking into helpless intoxication. Although the account
given by Knox is regrettably bare of details, it suggests
that the garrison of Mont Saint-Michel was reduced to its
lowest strength ; and this circumstance very materially
increased the Scotsmen's chances of success.

When the carousing was over in the common hall, and
when the revellers had retired to their several quarters,
Kirkcaldy and his three friends sallied forth on their
perilous expedition. Silently and stealthily making their
way to the rooms where the soldiers were sunk in a heavy
sleep they first gagged and bound them securely, and then
locked the doors on them to prevent pursuit, even if the
alarm were given. But the only means of exit from the
fortress was closed by three gates, of which the keys were
with the Governor ; and if these could not be got, the
whole enterprise was doomed to failure, in spite of the
success with which the daring of the four Scotsmen had
so far been favoured. To respect the conditions which
Knox had imposed upon them, and impressed with such
earnestness as to lead them to look upon them as absol-
utely essential to the accomplishment of their design, it
was necessary for them to deal with the captain as they

46 FAMOUS SCOTS

had done with the guards, not to dispatch him with the
weapons that now lay at their disposal, but to overpower
him by a sudden attack, and to bind him before he could
offer any resistance. In this, too, their desperate deter-
mination secured them against failure. Favoured by the
darkness, they reached the Logis du Roi, which formed a
part of the machicolated inner gate, and contained the
apartments assigned to the military guardian of the strong-
hold. When they left it, the Governor was as helpless as
his men ; and the keys were in their power. After raising
the portcullis, they opened and relocked the second gate,
passed into the Cour du Lion, and came to the outer
barrier of the barbacan. The massive bolts and bars of
the Bavole were hastily pushed back, and the fugitives
were outside the walls of the grim prison, secure for a
while from pursuit, but with the dangerous journey across
the sands still before them. That, too, was performed
without untoward accident. So far their guide proved
faithful, for their safety was his ; and before the rising
tide had spread over the vast stretch of sand, and again
isolated the Mount, they had reached the mainland, at
a point sufficiently distant from Pontorson to insure their
being unnoticed by the sentries. Here the guide left
them, but not without turning against them the treachery
and the unscrupulous greed which had made him their
tool. By some means, which the chroniclers unfortunately
leave unexplained, but which was doubtless supplied by
their need of rest and sleep, as well as by the necessity
for concealment, when they got to the shore in the early
morning, he succeeded in getting possession of the little
stock of money with which they had provided themselves.
When the time came for them to resume their flight, they
found themselves reduced to the necessity of depending
on the charity of the country folk. That alone, even
apart from considerations of prudence, made it advisable
for the friends to part. The two Lesleys started together

KIRKCALDY OF GRANGE 47

in one direction, and ultimately reached a place which
Calderwood calls 'Roan,' but which can scarcely have
been the inland town of Rohan, as some later writers have
thought. It is more natural to suppose that, in their ignor-
ance of the country, they made for Rouen, the port at
which they had landed.

William Kirkcaldy and Carmichael proceeded west-
wards. As soon as the news of their escape became
known, diligent search was made for them throughout
the district. Disguised as poor mariners, they were,
however, able to elude their pursuers; and they slowly
and cautiously trudged from one seaport to another, in
the hope of finding a friendly ship that would give
them passage to England or to Scotland. But all
along the coast persistent ill-luck followed them. Saint-
Malo, Saint - Brieuc, Morlaix, Roscoff, Brest, were
vainly tried in the course of their weary search, which
lasted through thirteen weeks; and the fugitives came
to the little town of Le Conquet, at the furthest ex-
tremity of the peninsula of Finistere, without finding a
favourable opportunity to leave the country where, if their
identity were revealed, any of the fortresses which they
passed might become their prison. There, at length, their
wanderings came to a close. In the diminutive harbour,
to which, in spite of the dangerous rocks and reefs that
stretch between the coast and the wind-swept island of
Ushant, Scottish mariners sometimes steered their course,
they found a ship and a skipper willing to take them back
to their own country.

Kirkcaldy and his companion landed on the west coast
of Scotland in the spring of 1549. But they were not in
safety yet. It was only across the Border that they could
consider themselves beyond the reach of their enemies.
The short journey southwards, however, presented but
slight difficulties as compared with what they had already
gone through; and before long they found a refuge in

48 FAMOUS SCOTS

Berwick. There they saw John Knox, who had been
released that winter ; and within a few months they were
able to meet others of their friends in England ; for the
Scottish captives were being gradually liberated, and by
the month of July 1550 a general amnesty had opened
the gates of the French prisons for the last of the St
Andrews rebels.

Nothing is known as to the length of Kirkcaldy's stay
in England ; but there is evidence of his again being in
France before the close of 1550. In that year Sir John
Mason, writing from Blois to the English Council, in-
formed it that the secret agent had arrived two days
before, but being afraid for his personal safety, had re-
solved to return at once. He had found a substitute in
Kirkcaldy who had promised to communicate to Mason all
that he could learn. In future correspondence he was to
be referred to as Coraxe. His services were accepted, and
he received in payment for them a yearly pension, which
he continued to draw during the whole of Edward VI.'s
reign.

Kirkcaldy's questionable loyalty to the country which
afforded him hospitality did not prevent him from per-
forming his duty with conspicuous bravery as a soldier in
her army. Henry II. was at that time waging war against
the Emperor of Germany, and was glad to avail himself
of the services of the Scots. Two of these in particular
distinguished themselves by their impetuous courage no
less than by their military skill. They were Norman
Lesley and William Kirkcaldy. To the former of these
the campaign was destined to prove fatal ; and the brief
but graphic description of the skirmish in which he was
mortally wounded, cannot, even at this distance of time,
be read without sympathy and admiration. He had gone
with the cavalry under the command of the Conne'table
to harass and impede the progress of the army which the
Emperor was bringing to the relief of Renti, besieged by

KIRKCALDY OF GRANGE 49

the French. The relative positions of the forces were not
equal ; for whilst those of Charles were advancing along a
commanding height, Henry's horsemen were in the plain
below, and were consequently at the disadvantage of
having to ride up hill to attack the enemy. Regardless
of the odds the Scottish captain, mounted upon 'a fair
gray gelding,' fearlessly headed a charge of thirty of his
own countrymen. The incident is best given in the
words of another Scot — Sir James Melville — who writes
with the authority of an eye-witness. ' He had above his
coat of black velvet his coat of armour with two broad
white crosses, the one before, and the other behind, with
sleeves of mail, and a red bonnet upon his head, whereby
he was known and seen afar off by the Constable, the
Duke of Enghien, and the Prince of Conde* : where, with
his thirty, he charged upon sixty of their horsemen with
culverines, followed but with seven of his number. He,
in our sight, struck five of them from their horses with his
spear before it brake : then he drew his sword, and ran in
among them, not valuing their continual shooting, to the
admiration of the beholders. He slew divers of them,
and at length when he saw a company of spearmen
coming down against him, he gave his horse the spurs,
who carried him to the Constable, and there fell down
dead ; for he had many shots : and worthy Normal? was
also shot in divers parts, whereof he died fifteen days
after. He was first carried to the King's own tent, where
the Duke of Enghien and Prince of Cond£ told his
Majesty, that Hector of Troy was not more valiant than
the said Norman : whom the said King would see
dressed by his own chirurgeons, and made great moan
for him. So did the Constable, and all the rest of the
Princes.'

By none was the valiant Master of Rothes more deeply
and more sincerely regretted than by his companion in
many a perilous adventure — William Kirkcaldy. He

50 FAMOUS SCOTS

had been given the command of a hundred light horse-
men ; and with these he had been sent out on a secret
expedition, from which he did not return till the day after
the fatal skirmish. Within a few hours, the battle of
Renti afforded him and his Scots an opportunity of
avenging their countryman. That he who was Mike a
lion in the field ' did not spare the enemy may well be
assumed. Unfortunately, however, there is no record
of his exploits either on that day, or, indeed, on any
of the occasions when he did 'such notable service in
France.' We only know that his conduct won the
warmest praise from such men as Vendome, Cond^, and
Aumale ; that the famous Conne'table would never allow
him to stand bare-headed in his presence, and that, in the'
hearing of Melville, who records the flattering incident,
King Henry II., pointing to him said, ' Yonder is one of
the most valiant men of our age.'

Nor was it in battle only that Kirkcaldy won distinction.
He showed to equal advantage at the polished court of
the Valois, and always figured amongst the foremost in
the sports which the King favoured, and in which he him-
self took a leading part. So openly, indeed, did Henry
show his admiration of the Scottish captain, that 'he
chose him commonly upon his side in all pastimes he
went to.'

But, at the height of his fortunes, Kirkcaldy did not
forget his own country, or abandon the policy which he
conscientiously believed to be for her advantage. As a
soldier, he was ready to serve the French King against his
continental enemies; but, as a politician, he did not
hesitate or scruple to thwart his schemes by all the means
in his power when their object seemed to be the
subjection of Scotland to the rule of France — the erection
of the land into a province, as Melville forcibly puts it.
With this object in view he had thought himself justified

KIRKCALDY OF GRANGE 51

in acting as a secret agent, and supplying the English
Government with such information as might enable it to
follow the negotiations between the French party in
Edinburgh and their friends in Paris. But his services
had been dispensed with when Queen Mary succeeded
her half-brother Edward on the throne. It was no loftier
sense of honour, but rather a narrow spirit of intolerance
that led to the step; and the reason assigned for the
withdrawal of the secret service money, which had en-
abled Kirkcaldy to obtain, and to supply intelligence to
England, was simply that ' no Catholic Power should pay
or maintain the murderers of a Catholic Cardinal.'

As Kirkcaldy was in the receipt of ample pay from
Henry II., and as even his detractors never accused him
of avarice or greed — a charge which it would be difficult
to substantiate in the face of the distinct statement
made by Melville, that he never sought payment of the
' honourable pension ' granted him on his retirement from
the French service — it cannot be supposed that he was
actuated by mercenary motives when, in 1556, he again
offered his services to Queen Mary, through Dr Wotton,
promising that she should have ' good intelligence of the
affairs of Scotland and of France by his intimacy with
those of both nations.' No answer having been vouch-
safed to these overtures, Kirkcaldy resolved to return to
Scotland, where, as his knowledge of the negotiations
carried on with the French Court enabled him to foresee,
important events were about to take place. Before
leaving Paris, however, he again applied to the English
Ambassador, Dr Wotton, from whom he received a letter
of introduction to Lord Paget, Lord Privy-Seal, and Sir
William Petre, Secretary of State. It laid special stress
on the bearer's discontent with the present state of
Scotland, and on his desire to see it delivered from the
yoke of the French and restored to its former liberty. It

52 FAMOUS SCOTS

referred to his English sympathies, but added a very
important and very honourable qualification ; for it was
only 'next to his country' that he was represented as
having ' a good mind to England.'

On the 28th of May 1557, Lord Wentworth, writing to
Queen Mary, informed her that Kirkcaldy was then at
Dieppe, ' tarying only the wind to pass to Scotland.'

V. HOME AGAIN

ABOUT the year 1556, Sir James Kirkcaldy closed his
chequered career. The latter years of his life, those sub-
sequent to his return from captivity, had been spent in
retirement and comparative obscurity. After mentioning
his liberation, and the amnesty which put an end to his
exile from Scotland, the chronicles and letters of the
period make no further reference to him ; and it is only
from an entry in a writ of Chancery that the approximate
date of his death can be determined.

It was as Sir William Kirkcaldy of Grange that his son
returned to his native land. The first incident in which
he figures, though but of slight importance in itself, is too
characteristic of his chivalrous nature and martial spirit to
be omitted. It had chanced, some time previously, that
in the course of one of those raids, which were of con-
stant occurrence on the Border, John Kirkcaldy had
been made prisoner, by a party of Englishmen, belonging
to the garrison of Berwick, of which Lord Evers was
governor at the time. According to the recognised
custom of the age, the young Scotsman was kept in
confinement until such time as his friends should pay
the ransom demanded by his captors. But, from the
account which he gave after his release, it appeared that
he had been treated with undue harshness by Lord Evers
during his enforced stay within the walls of the English
fortress. John Kirkcaldy himself was not of sufficient
rank and standing to demand satisfaction of the governor.
His cousin, however, was a soldier whose reputation made
it no disgrace for the bravest Englishman to break a lance

53

54 FAMOUS SCOTS

with him. As his kinsman's champion, the Laird of
Grange sent a challenge to the Governor of Berwick to
meet him in single combat. But he had not reckoned on
the punctiliousness of the English lord. Evers pleaded
no justification of his conduct, nor did he deny the Scots-
men's right, according to the established laws of chivalry,
to demand satisfaction ; but he would not recognise the
simple Scottish Baron as his equal, and consequently
declined the encounter. To ignore the cartel altogether,
would, however, have exposed the English to taunts too
insulting to be borne with equanimity ; and for the
honour of his country and of his family, Lord Evers's
brother, Sir Ralph, gallantly made known his readiness
to fight with the Laird of Grange ' ane singular combatt
upoun horsback with speares.' To this he received the
reply, that Sir William was ' verrie weill content thairof,
and to meitt him in ony place he pleised.' It was
accordingly arranged that the duel should take place at
Halidon Hill, in presence of the two garrisons of Berwick
and of Eyemouth, but that under pain of treason, no man
should come within an arrow's flight of the two champions.
Each of them, however, was allowed to have an attendant
to bear his spear. There were also to be two trumpeters,
and two lords ' to be judges to see the matter finished.'
On the appointed day, the two knights rode into the field.
Sir Ralph Evers was accompanied by his brother, the
Governor of Berwick, in whose cause he was about to fight,
and by eleven other English knights. With Sir William
Kirkcaldy, there were also twelve gentlemen, of whom one
was Monsieur d'Oysel, the King of France's lieutenant.

When the judges of the field examined the armour of
the two champions, some difficulty arose by reason of
Kirkcaldy's better equipment. According to the English
annalist Hollinshed, who is as scrupulous in mentioning
the detail as the Scottish chronicler Pitscottie is careful
to overlook it, they objected that c Grange was armed in

KIRKCALDY OF GRANGE 55

a coat of plate, and a cuirass aloft upon it,' whilst Evers
'was clad onelie in a single coat of plate, without anie
other pieces of armor for defense of his body/ The
English knight, however, declared himself satisfied; and
the duel was proceeded with. The description given of
it by the two writers who have thought it worthy of
record, is very characteristic. It shows how national
sympathies influence them, even in trifling matters; and
may serve to convey some notion of the difficulty which
there is in arriving at the truth with regard to more
important events. Hollinshed is content with the state-
ment that the combatants ' ran together, and brake both
their staves,' and that ' as it fortuned, Master Evers was
hurt in the flank.' Pitscottie has expanded this into a
picturesque narrative. 'When all things war put to
ordour,' he says, ' and the championes horssed, and thair
speares in thair handis, then the trumpetteris soundit, and
the heraldis cryed, and the judges leitt thame goe, and
they ran togidder verrie furiouslie on both sydis, bot the
laird of Grange rane his adversar, the Inglisman, throw
the shoulder blaid, and aff his hors, and was woundit
deadlie, and in perrill of his lyff. Bot quhidder he died
or leived I cannot tell ; but the laird of Grange wan the
victorie that day.'

In spite of the irregular and desultory fighting of which
the meeting between Kirkcaldy and Evers was an incident,
Scotland and England were not actually at war with each
other. France, it is true, was using all its influence to
create a diversion in its own favour by inducing the
Queen-Regent to send a Scottish army across the Border ;
and, in anticipation of a conflict between the two nations,
the restless and warlike Barons of the Marches were
already making inroads into the country of the prospec-
tive enemy. But when Mary, after having assembled
an army at Kelso, announced her intention of declaring
war on England, a powerful party, with Chastelherault,

56 FAMOUS SCOTS

Huntly, Cassilis, and Argyle at its head, obliged her to
desist. With a view to checking the power of those
noblemen, the Regent formed a plan for recalling the
Earl of Lennox from his exile in England. This gave
rise to negotiations, in which Kirkcaldy acted as agent,
and of which a cessation of the Border warfare also
appears to have been one of the objects. They were
opened by the Bishop of Caithness, who, on the loth of
November 1557, wrote to Lord Wharton : —

1 My Lorde ; This shall be to chardge and request your
Lordshipp in homelye manner to be so favourable and good
for such love and favour as I do knowe you bear unto my
Lorde my brother, and to tayke the paynes to cause this
lytell mass of writings to be wyth all diligence conveyed
unto his Lordshipp, so being that passage cannot be had
to Wyllyam Kyrkaudye, unto whome the said writings are
directed, to be presented by him unto my Laydy's grace,
my sister, trusting that your Lordshipp will do so moche
for myne owne request, tho' the matter appertained not
unto my Lorde or my Laydy forsayd, whose affaires I
doubte not but your Lordshippe dothe regarde and weigh
as your owne, which movethe me to be the more homely
with you at this tyme. Referring the premisses unto
your Lordshipp's good mynde, and thus wyth my mooste
hartie comendacions unto your good Lordshipp, bid you
mooste hartely to farewell. Of Edenboroughe the xth
daye of November 1557, by the hande of

Your Lordshipp's good Friend in the olde
manner lawfully
ROBARTT, BUSCHOPP of Cathness.'

Three days later, Kirkcaldy, in conformity with the
instructions he had received, wrote the following request
for a secret interview with Wharton : —

* These shall be to certify your Lordship, this last Fryday,
at night, there came ane speciall friend of my Ladye Mar-
garet Dowglass's grace, and of my Lorde her bedfellowe's,
to me with an masse of Letters dyrected to your Lordship,

KIRKCALDY OF GRANGE 57

and because this friend, that hath sent these letters, knoweth
that I have always bene wyllinge to do pleasure and service
to the forsayd Laydye and Lorde, hathe desyred me moost
ernestly to see them delyvered secretely, wythe certaine
secrets to your Lordship, the which I wold gladly do, yf
I might be assured to come quietly unto you, wythoute
the knowledge of anye but some sure friende of your
owne, whome yt will pleas your Lordship, if ye think ye
good I come unto you, to cause meet me at Lamertone
churche, this setterday night, halfe an houre after the
sunset, where I shall be with one in company. And for
the lesse susspicione, I wold desyre your Lordship that
I might be with you in the fornight, to the ende I might be
come back agayne or daye. Besides all these premisses,
I have some other matters to declare unto your Lordship.
Your answer in writing with expedycion I moost hartely
desyre, and so bidd your Lordship weill fayr. From
Haymowth, this Setterday the xiii of November, 1557.

By him whome your Lordship may com-
maunde after his pore power

WlLLM. KlRKALDYE.'

Wharton at once sent a reply. He readily consented
to an interview with Kirkcaldy, and undertook to observe
all the precautions suggested by his correspondent with a
view to insuring the secrecy upon which so much stress
was laid. His courteous note concluded with the expres-
sion of his satisfaction that the Laird of Grange continued
his good mind to my Lady Margaret Lennox and her
husband, and with the assurance that they should be
informed of it. The meeting duly took place in the
evening ; and the following detailed account of what was
discussed at it was drawn up by Lord Wharton next day,
and forwarded to the Privy Council.

'Pleaseth it your most honourable Lordships to be
advertised that the i3th of this month William Kirkcaldy
sent me a letter ; and to the intent to know as I could his
meaning or practice, I wrote answer as your Lordships

58 FAMOUS SCOTS

may perceive by the copies of his letter and mine answer
therein enclosed. The same night he was with me in my
chamber; and first delivered a letter unto me from the
Bishop of Caithness, copy whereof I send also with these
unto your Lordships. He delivered a packet of letters
endorsed to my Lady Margaret Lennox, her Grace, which
I have sent with this post towards her and my Lord her
husband, with a letter therein from Kirkcaldy to his Lord-
ship. After this I had long talk with him that night,
and questioned thoroughly that cause of my Lady Margaret
and my Lord of Lennox — from whom the letters were
sent, with whose advice, and who would be their friends
in that realm, I accounting to him their enemies, which
were great and many. His sayings, so near as I could,
I gathered as followeth.

'He saith that the Prior of St Andrews, who is accounted
the wisest of the late King's base sons, and one of the
Council of Scotland, the Earl of Glencairn and the Bishop
of Caithness, did agree to write the letters in the packet,
and that the Dowager is of counsel and consenting there-
with ; and that she wrote her letters to Monsieur d'Oysel,
to cause Kirkcaldy make devise to send the letters to me,
that they might pass in haste; and that the Dowager's
letter did meet d'Oysel beside Dunbar, towards Edinburgh,
the 1 3th of this month. D'Oysel returned* Kirkcaldy,
upon the sight of the Dowager's letter, with the packet
forthwith, who saith to me, it is the Queen and d'Oysel's
device, and d'Oysel very earnest therewith, with many
words that he hath given to Kirkcaldy of the great dis-
pleasure that the Queen and d'Oysel beareth, especially
against the Duke of Chastelherault and the Earl of Huntly,
and against others whom d'Oysel nameth the feeble and
false noblemen of Scotland. Amongst others, he said
when their army retired and their ordnance was to be
carried on the water, d'Oysel sent to the Duke that he
would see the ordnance returned over the water again
* Sent back.

KIRKCALDY OF GRANGE 59

and that it might be put in safety. The messenger said
to the Duke that d'Oysel was angry with their retire and
breach of their promise, and also not regarding the surety
of their ordnance. The Duke's answer was, "Let Monsieur
d'Oysel gang by his mind, an he will; for as we, the noble-
men of Scotland, have determined and written to the
Queen, so will we do, and let him look to his own charge."
The messenger told the Duke's words to d'Oysel, and so
was d'Oysel left. Upon which words, and their manner
of dealing, d'Oysel will seek their displeasure by all the
ways and means he can, and so will the Dowager, as
Kirkcaldy saith.

'In talks with him, I said it was a great matter to
enterprise, to bring into that realm my Lady Margaret
Lennox and my Lord her husband, and that power of
noblemen and of others, with houses of strength must be
provided in that realm, and to be in surety thereof before
their coming, for I thought they were personages which
would not be sent forth of this realm into Scotland, to
live in danger of their enemies, now being great. He
said, the coming of my Lady to the Dowager, with their
friends there, would order that matter; and said, they might
first have the Castle of Tantallon, which is in the keeping
of the Lord of Craigmillar, and at the Dowager's order.
He speaketh liberally, that they would have many friends,
and also have on their side the authority that now is.
Their friends earnestly desire the hasty sending of Nesbit,
my Lord of Lennox's servant. This matter, as I think in
my poor opinion, may be wrought for my Lady Margaret
and my Lord of Lennox's purposes, and to continue the dis-
pleasure now standing amongst the greatest of that realm.

'After this, Kirkcaldy said, that he marvelled that the
communication between Sir James Crofts and him, for
a truce of certain days to have been made, was not agreed
unto ; and said the same matter was one of the occasions
of his coming to me, to declare his doings therein ; whom
I answered that the same was not like to take effect by

60 FAMOUS SCOTS

his doings for Scotland, for, they made sundry meetings
and countenances for truce, and when their army was
ready, did let the matter fall, which gave occasion to be
thought in this realm not well done. And after, he
revived again that communication, which, without others
calling for, and personages for that realm to have been
appointed for that purpose, he ought to think the same
could not take effect. After this, he asked me, if it could
not be brought to a truce yet. I said I had no commission,
nor anything to say therein ; what he would say, I would
hear it. And then he desired mine advice. I told him
what I had seen — that Scotland, in war, had sent messages
to officers or to noblemen, and thereupon meetings of
commissioners did follow, for abstinence, which was had,
and after, peace. And I making occasion of other com-
munications, he came to this again, and desired that a
herald should be sent to my Lord of Northumberland,
Lord Warden, and to me, having some prisoners taken by
the garrison here, that gentlemen might be appointed, and
treat for the order of prisoners of both realms, as before
they did ; and at that meeting, the former sayings of Sir
James Crofts and him to be spoken of, for a truce for
certain days, and to be remembered by the Scots. I
asked whom he thought should be appointed (if meeting
were had). He said, the Lord Seaton, Captain Sarlabois
— to be one because he was one before — the Laird of
Craigmillar, and the young Laird of Lethington ; or two
of them. These are the Dowager's and great with her.
I told him that I could make him no answer ; but said,
if it were his mind, I would make advertisements of his
sayings, which he desired that I would, to my Lords of
the King and Queen's Majesty's most Honourable Privy
Council. He said that Scotland would agree to an
abstinence for twenty days or for three months; but,
always they mind to have a licence for an especial man
to pass through this realm with the Dowager's letters to
the French King for knowledge of his further pleasure to

KIRKCALDY OF GRANGE 61

their treaties and doings. And I asking him what news
he had, and reasoning of the present state and devices for
the order of their realm, he said, that, on Sunday last, the
7th of November, there arrived a ship at Leith, with letters
and money from the French King. He said he read a
letter written from the said King to d'Oysel, wherein was
that he should have all his desires of men and money;
and that a letter was written from Bettancourt, Master of
the Dowager's household (who passed from the Dowager
to the French King for an aid in summer last) that he
with four ensigns and twelve hundred footmen, and two
hundred horsemen, were dispatched to come into Scot-
land by the West Seas, whom continually they look for
there. Captain Grayer and the Englishmen in France
are appointed to serve in Scotland as he saith. He said
that it was written that the French King was in the field
with a great army, and intended to besiege St Quentin.
He further said that they have three hundred in garrison
in Kelso, and that they have in Eyemouth and Ayton,
nine hundred, besides three hundred Scots in garrison,
and that they mind, having money now come (whereof
was great want), to make a more furniture of five hundred
Scotts horsemen, himself, the Laird of Ormistone, James
Stuart, one Livingstone, and a fifth, whom he could not
name, to be their Captains. I told him these were many
hundreds he spoke of, if all might be well paid ; and said
that his news and these would give occasion to think that
this realm should not treat of abstinence nor peace. He
answered that Monsieur d'Oysel thought the peace would
be made between the King's Highness and the French
King, and doubteth nothing thereof, except the Duke of
Savoy; and therefore he would that peace should be
treated upon here.

'He saith that they will have a parliament at Saint
Andrew's day to appoint the marriage of the Queen,
which, he saith, will be solemnised after Christmas, or at
Easter, and not to fail. He saith the going of Monsieur

62 FAMOUS SCOTS

d'Oysel to Edinburgh at this time, is for the order of the
money come, which the Dowager and d'Oysel will keep
secret so much as they can, because the Scotts will be
greedy thereof.'

On this incident, which does not appear to have led to
any definite results, Tytler has founded a charge of gross
inconsistency against Sir William Kirkcaldy. Even the
fragment of Wharton's report quoted by him contains
nothing that can be looked upon as supporting the
accusation. An examination of all the documents bear-
ing on the case wholly refutes it. It makes it clear that
the main object of the conference was the recall of the
Earl of Lennox — a scheme to which Kirkcaldy, who, in
his own words, had ' always been willing to do pleasure
and service ' to the Earl and his wife, might honourably
lend himself. With regard to the informal conversation
on the subject of a truce, it was, obviously, nothing more
than the revival of a subject which had already been
openly discussed with Crofts ; and whatever construction
may be given to it, there is manifest unfairness in dis-
torting it into the abandonment, on Kirkcaldy's part, of
the principles which he had formerly professed ; on the
contrary, if it can be held to prove anything, that can
only be a wish for the establishment of more friendly
relations with England. As to ' inviting a French army
into the country,' there is nothing in Wharton's report
that justifies the assumption that Grange favoured such a
measure. He referred to the expected arrival of troops,
simply in answer to the question asked him, as to the
latest news ; and the fact of his communicating such
details to an English agent might, with some plausibility,
serve as an argument that he had but little sympathy
with the Dowager's French policy.

VI. THE UPROAR OF RELIGION

THE year 1559 marks one of the most important events
in the history of the Scottish people. In that year began
'the uproar of religion,' as Pitscottie quaintly yet vigor-
ously styles it. Instigated by her brothers, Mary of Guise,
the Queen-Regent of Scotland, inaugurated the unwise
and unscrupulous policy by which she and they hoped to
check the growing power of the Protestant party, and to
secure the ascendancy of France. A little before Easter,
she issued a proclamation ' commanding every man, great
and small, to observe the Roman Catholic religion, to
resort daily to the Mass, that all should make confession
in the ear of a priest, and receive the sacrament.' In
addition to that, she summoned several of the most in-
fluential amongst the Protestant Lords, and, after com-
municating to them the instructions, 'mixed with some
threatenings,' which Bettancourt had brought from the
French Court, she called upon them to abjure the prin-
ciples and practice of the Reformed religion. More
injudiciously still, she ordered the leaders of the Re-
formed clergy to attend a Court of Justice, which was to
be held at Stirling, and before which they would be
required to defend their teaching and their conduct.
In the face of this wanton provocation the ' Professors '
acted with calm and dignified determination. They sent
Alexander, Earl of Glencairn, and Sir Hugh Campbell of
Lowdan, Sheriff of Ayr, to remonstrate with the Queen-
Regent, and to beseech her to use no violent measures
against the Protestant ministers, 'unless any man were
able to convict them of false doctrine.' To this she

64 FAMOUS SCOTS

replied in violent and intolerant language: 'In despite
of you, and your ministers both,' she said, ' they shall be
banished out of Scotland, albeit they preached as true as
ever did Saint Paul.'

Though both astonished and shocked at this 'proud
and blasphemous answer,' Glencairn and Campbell
maintained their self-restraint. They contented them-
selves with representing to her that her former tolerance
had given such strength to the Reformed religion, that
she could no longer hope to repress it ; and with
appealing to the promises which she had herself made
to her Protestant subjects. At this her anger burst forth
again ; and she told them that ' it became not subjects
to burden their Princes with promises, further than it
pleased them to keep.' The deputies firmly replied by
pointing out the disastrous consequences that would
inevitably ensue from such high-handed action, and by
warning the Regent that the responsibility for them
would fall upon her. This produced a salutary effect;
and Mary so far relented as to promise that she would
give the matter further consideration.

At this juncture, the spontaneous development of
events brought about new complications, and made it
evident that an amicable settlement of the quarrel be-
tween the two parties was no longer possible. The town
of Perth openly embraced the Reformed religion — a
measure which, in the words of the chronicler, ' provoked
the Queen-Regent to a new fury.' She at once sent
orders to Lord Ruthven, who was Provost at the time,
to take the most rigorous means for the suppression of
the heretical outbreak. He replied that he could oblige
the citizens to bring their bodies to her Grace, and to
prostrate themselves before her, till she was satiate with
their blood, but that he could not undertake to make them
do anything against their consciences. On receiving the
'malapert' answer, Mary of Guise commanded that the

KIRKCALDY OF GRANGE 65

summons issued to the preachers should take effect, and
that they should appear at Stirling on the icth of May.

The leaders of the Protestant party still hesitated to
abandon their conciliatory policy; and even though it
was thought advisable that the most influential gentlemen
in Angus and Mearns should assemble in Perth to ex-
press their sympathy with the ministers and to give them
their moral support, it was prudently resolved that they
should appear unarmed, and that the Regent should be
informed that their intentions went no further than
'giving confession with the preachers.' Intimidated by
this peaceful but suggestive demonstration, Mary thought
it wise to meet the ' fervency ' of the people with craft.
Through the Laird of Dun, who had been sent to her,
she expressed her willingness to stay the trial of the
ministers, if they and their sympathisers consented to
disperse at once. When, after some hesitation, her
terms had been accepted, instead of keeping faith with
the Protestants, she caused the preachers to be put to
the horn for not having appeared in Stirling in obedience
to the summons, and all men to be forbidden under pain
of rebellion to assist, comfort, receive, or maintain them
in any sort.

The Queen-Regent's duplicity aroused a storm of
indignation in Perth, where it became known within a
few hours. Next day, John Knox, who had but lately
returned to Scotland, ascended the pulpit. It does not
appear that he made any direct reference to the treachery
of which Mary had been guilty, or that he intended
further to excite the resentment of the people. He
inveighed against idolatry ; set forth the commandments
given by God for the destruction of everything connected
with false worship ; and denounced the Mass as an
abomination of the grossest kind.

It is a very striking illustration of the strange con-
fusion of the time, that this discourse was delivered in

66 FAMOUS SCOTS

the parish church, and that immediately after it, and
before those who had been stirred by the preacher's fervid
eloquence had retired, a priest came forward, and made
preparation for the performance of the very function
against which Knox had directed his bitter invectives.
This ill-timed zeal, or imprudent defiance, called forth
an indignant protest from a youth who was near the
altar at the moment. 'This is intolerable,' he cried,
' that when God, by his word, hath plainly damned
idolatry, we should stand and see it used in despite.'
The rash priest replied with a violent blow. Rushing
out of the church, the young man seized a heavy stone,
returned to the altar, and flung the missile with all his
might at the aggressor. The stone missed the priest,
but struck a statue, and broke it to pieces. This was
the signal for a scene of uproar and violence. In a few
moments the church was wrecked, and the mob was on
its way to the other religious buildings in the city. The
tumult lasted for two whole days, during which the
monasteries of the Blackfriars, of the Greyfriars, and of
the Carthusians were so completely pillaged and de-
stroyed, that 'the walls only of those great buildings
remained.'

Mary of Guise vowed to be avenged; and marched
against Perth with a powerful body of troops. But the
gentlemen of Fife, Angus, and Mearns, and the burgesses
of Dundee were assembling to meet force with force;
and though, at first, she affected to despise the rebels, the
accession to their number of two thousand five hundred
men, under Glencairn, induced her to consent to negotia-
tions. On the 28th of May, a truce was agreed upon.
The conditions were that 'no inhabitants of the town
should be troubled for any such crimes as might be
alleged against them, for the late change of religion,
abolishing of idolatry, and downcasting of the places of
the same ; and that her Grace would suffer the religion

KIRKCALDY OF GRANGE 67

begun to go forward, and leave the town free from the
garrisons of the French soldiers.'

On the 2 Qth of May, the ' Congregation ' departed from
Perth; and on the same day, the Queen-Regent, the
Duke of Chastelherault, the Earl of Athole, and several
prelates, together with d'Oysel and his French troops,
entered it. From the very first, it became evident that
Mary of Guise had no intention of allowing the con-
ditions of the truce to interfere with her policy. Indeed,
she is reported to have said, that she did not consider
herself bound to keep her promises to heretics. As for
retaining four hundred of d'Oysel's soldiers as a garrison,
she justified that step on the ground that, though in the
French service, and in the receipt of French pay, they
were Scotsmen.

One of the results of this further act of perfidy was to
alienate the Earl of Argyle and Lord James Stuart. As
long as they thought that the Regent's object was only
the restoration of order, they remained on her side ; but
now, judging that she was bent on doing all in her power
to suppress the Reformation, they departed for St Andrews,
where the ' Professors ' had retired after leaving Perth.

It does not appear that Sir William Kirkcaldy took any
open and prominent part in the events which occurred
in the early months of 1559. But there is evidence
that he was at St Andrews in the beginning of June. It
was there that John Knox first proposed to him that they
should endeavour to obtain assistance from Queen Eliza-
beth. 'If England would but see her own advantage,'
the Reformer said, ' Yea, if she would consider the
dangers wherein she is standing herself, she would not
suffer us to perish in this quarrel; for France hath de-
creed no less the conquest of England than of Scotland.'
As the result of their 'long reasoning,' it was resolved
that Kirkcaldy should open negotiations with the English.

If, as Calderwood states, this interview did not take

68 FAMOUS SCOTS

place till after the assembling of the forces of the Congre-
gation on Cupar Moor, on the i3th of June, Kirkcaldy
had already, on his own responsibility, communicated
with Elizabeth's agent. On the 24th of May he had
written to Sir Henry Percy, informing him that although
the Queen-Regent of Scotland promised she would be
content that all such as favoured God's Word should have
liberty to live after their own conscience, yet, in the con-
clusion of the peace she had uttered her deceitful mind,
having since declared that she would be an enemy to all
those who did not live after her religion. ' Therefore, I
pray you,' said Sir William, ' let me understand what will
be your mistress's part if we desire to be joined in friend-
ship with her ; for I assure you there was never a better
time to get our friendship than at this time. Therefore
make labours and lose no time when it is offered.'

About a month later, on the 23rd of June, Kirkcaldy,
who by this time had returned to his own house, wrote to
Cecil. The natural love which he bore to his native
country, he said, and the unfeigned desire which he had
long cherished, that the inhabitants of the whole island
might be united in perpetual amity, compelled him to
declare their present state, and to require of him counsel
and comfort in their danger. Twice already, he informed
Cecil, had the Professors of God's Word shown their
faces for defence of their brethren, whose blood was
sought for the cause of religion ; and, at that moment,
they were in the field for the deliverance of Perth, which
the Queen had taken and, contrary to her promises,
garrisoned with her troops. Of the Catholic party in
Scotland itself, there was no cause, he believed, to be
afraid ; for the greater part of the nobility and com-
monalty had openly defied the Pope; but the Queen
and the Papists were plotting to bring in a French army.
If this should happen, it was the desire of all goodly men
to know what support they might look for from England,

KIRKCALDY OF GRANGE 69

with which they were anxious to be one in religion and
friendship. The number of these was already great and
seemed likely to increase daily, if no foreign nation inter-
fered to coerce them ; and Cecil was warned that, if he
allowed the latter contingency to take place, he would be
preparing a way for his own destruction.

Although Percy's answer to Kirkcaldy has not been
preserved, it appears to have been rather an inquiry for
direct information as to the objects which the leaders of
the Congregation really had in view, than a promise to
afford the help so earnestly solicited. It drew from
Grange a further communication, written on the ist of
July, the day after the triumphant entry of the Protestant
forces into Edinburgh, and containing a distinct exposi-
tion of the policy of his party. ' I received your letter
this last day of June,' he wrote, * perceiving thereby the
doubt and suspicion you stand in for the coming forward
of the Congregation, whom I assure you, you need not to
have in suspicion ; for they mean nothing but reformation
of religion, which shortly throughout the realm they will
bring to pass, for the Queen and Monsieur d'Oysel, with
all the Frenchmen, for refuge are retired to D unbar.
The foresaid Congregation came this last of June, by
three of the clock, to Edinburgh, where they will take
order for the maintenance of the true religion and resist-
ing of the King of France, if he sends any force against
them. The manner of their proceeding in reformation
is this : they pull down all manner of friaries, and some
abbeys which willingly receive not the Reformation. As
to parish churches, they cleanse them of images and all
other monuments of idolatry, and command that no
masses be said in them ; in place thereof the Book set
forth by godly King Edward is read in the said churches.
They have never as yet meddled with a pennyworth of
that which pertains to the Church, but presently they
will take order throughout all the parts where they dwell,

70 FAMOUS SCOTS

that all the fruits of the abbeys and other churches shall
be kept and bestowed upon the faithful ministers, until
such time as a further order be taken. Some suppose
the Queen, seeing no other remedy, will follow their
desires, which is a general reformation throughout the
whole realm, conform to the pure Word of God ; and the
Frenchmen to be sent away. If her Grace will do so,
they will obey her and serve her, and annex the whole
revenues of the abbeys to the Crown ; if her Grace will
not be content with this, they are determined to hear of
no agreement.'

In the minds of the English statesmen, there was still
some doubt as to the position taken up by Kirkcaldy.
They remembered that, shortly after his return to Scot-
land, he had acted as the Queen-Regent's agent; and
they had before them the fact that he had not yet openly
declared himself to be on the side of the Congregation.
Under such circumstances, Cecil thought it prudent not
to write directly to the Laird of Grange, whom, as yet,
he had no reason for treating otherwise than 'as a
private man, not before known otherwise to them but as
one in good grace with the Dowager.' He instructed Sir
Henry Percy to obtain an interview with Sir William, to
thank him privately for his letter and the sentiments to
which it gave expression, and at the same time, to tell
him that the English Government desired to be more
fully informed as to the purposes of the Earls and other
Protestants ; as to the cause they meant to adopt ; and
as to the means at their disposal for the accomplishment
of their designs. Above all, there was to be a clear
understanding as to ' what manner of amity might ensue
between the two realms,' if assistance were sent from
England, 'and how the same might be hoped to be
perpetuated, and not to be so slender as heretofore, with
other assurance of continuance than from time to time
had pleased France.' Lest Kirkcaldy should think that

KIRKCALDY OF GRANGE 71

Cecil's unwillingness to negotiate directly with him
arose from any doubt as to his good faith and honesty,
Percy was further commissioned to tell him that all
promises communicated through the English agent would
be considered just as binding as though they had been
made immediately to himself. Considering, however, the
very guarded nature of the answer which Sir Henry was
to make to the Scottish Laird's advances, the assurance
thus given did not commit the English minister too much.

As soon as Kirkcaldy learnt from Percy the reasons put
forward by Cecil in explanation of his cautious hesita-
tion, he at once promised to supply, within a few days,
the information required by the English statesman with
regard both to the ' foundation' on which the Protestants
meant to work, and the ' amity ' they were ready to offer.
He further undertook to get himself duly acknowledged
'under the hands of some of the nobility.'

Although less than a week elapsed between Kirkcaldy's
interview with Percy and Crofts and the formal recogni-
tion of his negotiations by the Lords of the Congregation,
the delay appears to have suggested fresh doubts, and
possibly suspicions, to the minds of the English agents.
On the 2oth of July, Crofts wrote from Berwick, inform-
ing Cecil that Grange, though expected the day before,
had not yet arrived, and suggesting reasons for the delay.

' Kirkcaldy,' he wrote, ' has not yet discovered himself
plainly to be of the Protestant party, nor does he come
to the Queen-Regent, but feigns himself sick. Money
is owing him for serving in the late wars, in hope whereof
he drives time. The man is poor and cannot travail
in these matters without charges, wherein he must be
relieved by the Queen, if these proceedings go forward,
and so must as many as be principal doers have relief.
They all be poor, and necessity will force them to leave
off when all they have is spent, and you know, in all
practices, money must be one part.'

72 FAMOUS SCOTS

A few days later, however, on the 26th of the month,
the same writer was able to announce that Kirk-
caldy had now 'declared himself plainly,' and was with
the Protestants. That pecuniary considerations, even if
they had influenced him at all, as Crofts had previously
stated, had not been allowed to deter him from the
course of action which his conscience pointed out to
him, was proved by the fact that, as Crofts himself
acknowledged, in a later communication, his declaration
cost him fifteen or sixteen months' pay, which he should
have received from France.

Kirkcaldy's object and ambition had been the formation
of a Protestant alliance, and he had fervently declared
that all Europe should know that a league, in the name
of God, had another foundation and assurance than
factions made by man for worldly commodity. But the
result of his negotiations fell very far short of his sanguine
hopes. He was obliged to be content for the time with
a vague promise of assistance.

VIL HARASSING THE FRENCH

WHILST the heads of the Protestant party were correspond-
ing with England, the Queen-Regent, on her side, had
also been preparing for the struggle which she was now
determined to force on, though in order to gain time,
she had not discouraged the negotiations entered upon
with a view to a peaceable settlement. In answer to
her appeals for assistance, the French Court sent her a
body of troops, to oppose the forces which the Lords of
the Congregation were raising. About the middle of
August 1559, a thousand men, under the command of an
officer named Octavian, landed at Leith, which they at
once began to fortify. Protests and proclamations on
the part of the Lords having failed to prevent the
operations of the French from being actively carried
on, under the eyes of the Regent herself, Leith was
invested by the forces of the Congregation.

Sir William Kirkcaldy was one of the military leaders
on whose skill and experience the party mainly relied.
It is scarcely possible to determine with what official
rank he was invested ; but there is not wanting evidence
to show that, whether by actual appointment, or by virtue
of his zeal and of his valour, he stood in a position of
considerable importance. When Maitland of Lethington,
Secretary to the Queen-Regent, ' perceiving himself to be
suspected as one that favoured the Congregation, and to
stand in danger of his life if he should remain at Leith,
because he spared not to utter his mind in controversies
of religion/ determined to join the Protestant party, it
was to Sir William Kirkcaldy that he surrendered. Such

73

74 FAMOUS SCOTS

indeed, was his recognised influence with his associates,
that, as Throckmorton informed Cecil, the Regent
'weighed him more than a great many of the rest,'
and made strenuous, but vain efforts to gain him over
to her side.

Of Sir William's personal exploits, the records are only
casual and incidental ; but they invariably bear testimony
to the dashing courage which had won distinction for him
in foreign wars. It was conspicuously displayed in one
of the most important engagements between the opposing
forces. On the 5th of November, a body of French
troops was sent from Leith to intercept a convoy of
provisions intended for Edinburgh. Arran and Lord
James, being 'more forward than circumspect' in their
attempt to drive them back, allowed themselves to be
hemmed in, and forced into a ' very narrow corner,' be-
tween the low-lying swamp near Restalrig, and the wall
that enclosed the park of Holyrood. But for the Laird
of Grange and Alexander Whitelaw, who rode up at the
head of a few horsemen, and who succeeded in keeping
the enemy in check for a time, the whole escort would
have been surrounded, and either killed or taken. Even
as it was, the loss was serious ; and, together with the
capture of the expected provisions, led to the abandon-
ment of Edinburgh, which was at once occupied by the
French. Kirkcaldy, who had been in the front of the
fight, was in the rear of the retreat ; and, according to
Killegrew's report of the event to Queen Elizabeth, he
only ' very narrowly escaped over the walls.'

Another of Kirkcaldy's sallies from the camp before
Leith is narrated in a dispatch to Cecil by Sir Henry
Percy, who also took part in it — for this was in April
1560; and by that time Elizabeth had at length sent a
small contingent of troops to reinforce the army of the
Congregation. Dunbar being but a short distance from
Leith, and on the highroad to Berwick, it frequently hap-

KIRKCALDY OF GRANGE 75

pened that messengers and straggling parties, on their way
from the camp to the English Border, were intercepted
by pickets from the garrison. To check this, and to teach
the French caution, Lord Grey and Sir William devised a
stratagem. The latter, with Sir Henry Percy and three
hundred troopers, left the camp at dead of night and took
up a carefully chosen position, about half a mile from
Dunbar. Next morning, at nine o'clock, when there was
every probability of detection, a detachment of a dozen
men was sent forward as though for the purpose of riding
to Berwick. As soon as they were perceived, Captain
Hayes, with an equal number of cavalry, started in pur-
suit, whilst Captain Perrot, at the head of fifty footmen,
also marched out so as to be at hand to reinforce him,
if necessary. Feigning to be taken at unawares, the
decoys turned and made for the camp, managing their
flight in such a manner as to lead the pursuers into the
ambush. Grange made no attempt to meet the enemy ;
but as soon as they had all passed by, he rode out with
his three hundred men, and cut off their retreat. Charg-
ing the French before they had time fully to realise their
position, he overwhelmed them and took most of the
footmen prisoners. The cavalry were able to take refuge
in the neighbouring mansion of Innerwick, but a very
brief siege obliged them to surrender also ; and Kirkcaldy
returned to the camp after having killed thirteen of the
enemy and captured forty-five, including the two leaders,
Hayes and Perrot, and without having suffered any loss
himself.

On the eve of the last but still unsuccessful assault
made against Leith, on the yth of May 1560, by the
combined forces of the Congregation and of England, it
was Sir William Kirkcaldy who, with Sir Ralph Sadler
and Crofts, went forward to examine the breach which
the besieging artillery had made in the works. Had his
advice been followed, the next day's failure would have

76 FAMOUS SCOTS

been avoided, for he reported that the attack ought not
yet to be made. But, either owing to a misunderstanding
or, as was commonly reported subsequently, to treason on
the part of Crofts, who was instructed to communicate
Kirkcaldy's opinion to Grey, the assault took place, and
was repulsed with heavy loss to the besiegers.

Whilst the siege of Leith was going on, the skirmishing
was not confined to the southern side of the Forth.
Crossing to the other shore, the French established
themselves at Kinghorn and, sallying forth, laid waste
all the adjoining country, sparing neither Papist nor
Protestant, and even pillaging the estates of their own
confederates. Amongst the chief sufferers from their
depredations and wanton destruction of property, was
Sir William Kirkcaldy, whose house was deliberately
blown up. Next day he sent a characteristic message
to the French leader, d'Oysel. He told him that, up to
that hour, he had acted considerately towards the French,
and saved their lives when he might have allowed their
throats to be cut. But he warned him not to expect
such treatment for the future. ' As for Monsieur d'Oysel,'
reports the chronicler, ' he bade say to him, he knew he
would not get him to skirmish with, because he knew he
was but a coward. But it might be he should requite
him in full, either in Scotland or in France.'

The French soon learnt to their cost that Kirkcaldy
had not been indulging in mere braggart threats. At the
head of a thousand horse, and accompanied by the Master
of Sinclair, he lay in wait for them day and night, and
made it unsafe for them to venture out of Kinghorn
except in large bodies. One of his exploits was the
capture of three ships, laden with victuals, and the
slaughter of some sixty Frenchmen that were on board.
Another, of which the details have been recorded, resulted
in the death of the French Captain, L'Abast, and of
forty or fifty of his men. L'Abast having sallied out from

KIRKCALDY OF GRANGE 77

Kinghorn, was plundering as usual, sparing ' neither sheep,
oxen, kye, nor horse.' When he and his men got suffi-
ciently far inland to make it impossible for reinforcements
to come to them from the main body, Grange, who had
been following their movements, charged down upon them
with a company of his horsemen. The French beat a
hasty retreat as far as Glennis House, into which they
threw themselves. Whilst some occupied the mansion,
others took up their position within the courtyard. The
assailants were at considerable disadvantage, for they were
armed with spears only ; and their horses were useless to
them in an attack against men posted behind stone walls.
The French, on the contrary, all had arquebuses. Un-
deterred by the odds against him, Kirkcaldy ordered his
men to dismount, and led them to the assault. As they
advanced, they were met with a sharp fire that injured
several of them, amongst others, Sir William's brother,
David. There was one critical moment of hesitation,
which would probably have been followed by a disordered
and disastrous retreat but for the courage of the Scottish
leader. ' Fie ! ' he cried to his men, ' Let us never live
after this day, if it is to be said we recoiled before French
skybalds ! ' Then, rushing forward with the Master of
Sinclair, and followed by others whom his words had
roused, he succeeded in forcing his way into the court-
yard. The death of L'Abast, who, though borne down
by the impetuous inrush, refused to ask for quarter, threw
the French into confusion. Few of those outside the
house escaped the fierce slaughter that followed ; whilst
those within it were glad to surrender at discretion
From that day, as the chronicler drily remarks, 'the
French were more circumspect in straying abroad.'

At Tullybodie, too, there was some sharp fighting for
the possession of the bridge. But, though Kirkcaldy
succeeded in cutting it down, the check to the advance
of the French was only temporary. They retired to

78 FAMOUS SCOTS

Doune, where they crossed the river by means of a
bridge, which they built of timber torn from the roof
of the parish church.

Kirkcaldy and Sinclair did not carry on this harassing
mode of warfare without considerable danger to them-
selves. On one occasion the Master had his horse slain
under him, and barely got off with his life. On another,
Grange was nearly captured in his own house at
Halyards. Referring to these narrow escapes, Maitland
of Lethington bears testimony to the estimation in which
the two dashing leaders were held, and to the value set on
their services by the Lords of the Congregation. ' If at
this time they should have lost the said two men,' he
wrote, * it would have been to them more hurt than to the
Frenchmen to have lost a thousand soldiers; it would
have been more skaith than to have had all the French-
men in Scotland slain.' John Knox, in a letter to Mrs
Anna Locke, also makes admiring and grateful mention
of Kirkcaldy's achievements. ' God will recompense him
I doubt not,' he says ; * for in this cause and since the
beginning of this last trouble specially, he hath behaved
himself so boldly, as never man of our nation hath
deserved more praise. He hath been in many dangers,
and yet God hath delivered him above man's expectation.
He was shot at Lundie, right under the left pap, through
the jack, doublet, and sark, and the bullet did sticke in
one of his ribs. Mr Whitelaw hath gotten a fall, by the
which he is unable to bear armour. But, God be praised,
both their lives be saved.'

Whether Kirkcaldy was actually wounded, however,
seems rather doubtful. That, if he was, his hurt can-
not have been serious, may be gathered, not only from
the fact that no interruption of his activity at this time is
recorded, but also from the following passage, which
occurs in one of Sadler's letters to Crofts : ' Kirkcaldy
hath no such hurt as we wrote of, which arose of another

KIRKCALDY OF GRANGE 79

Scottishman that was indeed hurt in the same sort as we
did write ; and before that Kirkcaldy slew a Frenchman,
whereby the Protestants had the first blood, which they
do take for good luck/

By the beginning of 1560, both contending parties
had grown tired of the desultory, and practically useless
fighting which had now been going on for months.
Negotiations had again been entered upon with a view
to the cessation of hostilities, when, on the icth of June,
the death of the Queen-Regent took place. Although
there is reason to believe that this time she was really
sincere in her wish for peace, it is probable that her
demise accelerated rather than retarded the conclusion
of the treaty. That it secured for the Protestant party
more favourable terms than she herself would readily
have granted, scarcely admits of a doubt.

VIII. AT CARBERRY

THE cessation of hostilities, and the departure from
Scotland of the French and English contingents which
had helped to carry on the war, inaugurated a period of
comparative rest and tranquillity in Sir William's adven-
turous life. During the next four years there is but rare
and incidental reference to him in the correspondence
of the time. A letter from Randolph to Maitland states
that Grange was one of the leaders of a small force sent
into Renfrewshire for the purpose of reducing the re-
bellious Master of Semple to subjection. The only
notable feature of this very unimportant expedition was
the difficulty experienced in bringing the artillery to bear
on Castle Semple, which was situated in a small lake.
It took seven days to get the guns into position. Twenty-
four hours later Semple capitulated.

Another letter from the same source shows that Kirk-
caldy's friendly relations with the English Court were still
maintained. It informs Cecil that when the agent wished
to take special means for the safe delivery of his dispatches
to the Government, he availed himself of the services of
the Laird's retainers. The young Queen of Scots, on
the other hand, in spite of her dying mother's injunctions
to secure the good- will of ' Kirkcaldy of Grange, whom
the Constable de Montmorency had named the first
soldier in Europe/ still looked with suspicion on the
man who had so largely contributed to the success of the
Reformers. Indeed, her objection to him was expressed
with sufficient plainness to attract the attention of Throck-
morton, who was ' nothing sorry ' for it, and who did not
80

KIRKCALDY OF GRANGE 81

think the circumstance too insignificant to be communi-
cated to Elizabeth.

Closer acquaintance with the gallant soldier, however,
appears to have altered Mary Stuart's opinion of him after
her return to Scotland. In 1562, when she undertook
an expedition to the North, against the Earl of Huntly,
he was one of the leaders whom she appointed to serve
under Lord James, the commander of her forces. A few
days later, he was at Strathbogie, at the head of a body
of horsemen sent to apprehend the Earl. His progress
had been so rapid, that Huntly was taken by surprise,
and only narrowly avoided capture. 'Without boot or
sword he conveyed himself out at a back gate, over a low
wall, where he took his horse.' Being better acquainted
with the country, and better mounted than his pursuers,
who had already ridden twenty-four miles that morning,
he succeeded in making good his escape, but only to fall
at the battle of Corrichie. It was, doubtless, as a reward
for Kirkcaldy's services during this expedition that the
act of attainder passed against him and his family, for the
murder of Cardinal Beaton, was reversed by Parliament
in the following year. His lands were also restored to
him a few months later.

In the year 1564, the project of a marriage between
Mary Stuart and Darnley again roused dissatisfaction
amongst the Protestant leaders. The matter was one with
regard to which Kirkcaldy was not likely to remain
indifferent; and a letter written to Randolph, on the
nineteenth of September, shows that he had already
entered into negotiations with the English Court, for the
purpose of offering the support and co-operation of his
party to Elizabeth, who was known to look upon the
intended marriage with great disfavour. As might have
been expected from this preliminary and early step, the
Laird of Grange was amongst those who, with Lord James
at their head, openly expressed their disapproval of

F

82 FAMOUS SCOTS

Darnley, as one more than suspected of being ready to
adopt and forward Mary's views in favour of the Catholic
religion, and who consequently disobeyed the Queen's
commands to come to Edinburgh, ' Weill bodin in feir of
weir, furneist to remaine the space of fifteen dayis efter
thair cuming, for attending and awayting upon her Hienes.'
Although no record exists of his individual action,
testimony is borne to the importance which Mary and her
Council attached to it, by a proclamation issued on the
2nd of August 1565, only four days after the celebration
of the obnoxious marriage. It commanded Andrew,
Earl of Rothes, and William Kirkcaldy of Grange to enter
themselves prisoners within the Castle of Dumbarton.
On the 1 4th of the same month, Kirkcaldy was denounced
as a rebel, and charged, under pains of treason, to deliver
up the fortalice of Halyards. Next day a proclamation,
setting forth that the Earls of Murray and Rothes, Grange,
and Provost Haliburton, were riding and going about the
Realm where they pleased, and were being entertained as
if they were good and true subjects, forbade the lieges to
supply those rebels with meat, drink, munition, or armour.
Another of the numerous proclamations issued at this
time — its exact date is the 24th of August — gave com-
mission to the Earl of Athole to pursue them with fire
and sword. This was on the eve of the Queen's departure
from Edinburgh, at the head of five thousand men, to
take part in what is known as the Round About Raid.

The ill-advised and ill-managed rising afforded Grange
no opportunity of distinguishing himself or even of doing
justice to the reputation which he had already acquired. He
hurried with the rest of his party from Paisley to Hamilton,
from Hamilton to Edinburgh, then back again, through
Lanark to Hamilton and thence to Dumfries. There the
insignificant force of some thirteen hundred horsemen
was disbanded; and Kirkcaldy, with a number of the
leaders, sought safety across the Border.

KIRKCALDY OF GRANGE 83

From letters written by Bedford immediately after these
events, it seems justifiable to conclude that he, at least,
attributed the failure of the Protestant rising to neglect of
the advice given by Kirkcaldy. Not only does he speak
of him in special terms of praise, which would have been
quite out of place if he had done no more than flee
before the Queen, and style him ' as able a man in war
or peace as any in Scotland or France;' but he also
particularly 'bemoans' his fate and significantly adds
that he will not speak of 'what services Grange might
have done.'

As early as the beginning of January 1566, steps were
being taken to procure an amnesty in favour of Sir William
Kirkcaldy, and to enable him to return to Scotland. They
were not successful, however, and two months later he
was still in England, and according to a communication
made by Bedford and Randolph to Cecil, was one of
those who were privy to the plot for the assassination of
David Rizzio. That he knew of it can scarcely be
doubted. It may even be admitted that he entertained
no special scruples with regard to the removal of an
officious and obnoxious foreigner, whose influence on the
Queen was being exercised to prevent her receiving the
exiles into favour, and whom it was, moreover, originally
intended to bring to trial, not, it is true, in a formal and
legal manner, but with some sort of judicial proceeding
sufficient to make his death appear an execution rather
than a brutal murder. But there is no evidence to
prove that his complicity went any further ; on the other
hand, it is noteworthy that his name does not appear
in the list of ' such as were consenting to the death of
Davy,' forwarded to Cecil within a fortnight after the
occurrence. Nor can this omission be explained by the
fact that Grange was known not to have returned to
Edinburgh, with Murray and his company, till twenty-four
hours after the murder. Knox has never been accused of

84 FAMOUS SCOTS

being actually present at the grim tragedy either, and yet
his name figures on the black roll. Finally, it is not un-
important to note that as early as the 4th of April, less
than a month after the assassination of Rizzio, Bedford
was able to announce to Cecil that the Laird of Grange
was now restored to favour. If that did not refer to the re-
mission of the pains and penalties he had incurred through
his connection with the Round About Raid, it may be
taken as evidence that his complicity with the murderers
of the Secretary was not thought to be very direct.

Not many months elapsed before events far more
startling and far more momentous in their results again
called upon Sir William Kirkcaldy to play a prominent
part both as a politician and as a soldier. On the
roth of February 1566, Darnley was murdered under
circumstances which led many to believe not only that
Both well was the murderer, but that Mary was his
accomplice. Such was the view adopted by the Laird
of Grange. When the mock trial of the Earl convinced
him that the law of the land was powerless to inflict
punishment on the perpetrator of the foul deed ; and
when, in addition to this, the subservience of five and
twenty bishops, earls, and barons, who affixed their
signatures to the notorious Ainslie Bond, showed him
that a union with Mary would probably be the un-
scrupulous adventurer's next step, he made an earnest
appeal for help from England. 'It may please your
Lordship to let me understand,' he wrote to Cecil, 'what
will be your sovereign's part concerning the late murder
committed among us ; for albeit her Majesty was slow in
all our last troubles, and therefore lost that favour we did
bear unto her, yet nevertheless, if her Majesty will pursue
for the revenge of the late murder, I dare assure your
Lordship she shall win thereby all the hearts of all the
best in Scotland again. Further, if we understand that
her Majesty would assist us and favour us, we should not

KIRKCALDY OF GRANGE 85

be long in revenging of this murder. The Queen caused
ratify in Parliament the cleansing of Bothwell. She intends
to take the Prince out of the Earl of Mar's hands, and
put him into Bothwell's keeping, who murdered the King,
his father. The same night the Parliament was dissolved,
Bothwell called the most part of the noblemen to supper,
for to desire of them their promise in writing and consent
for the Queen's marriage, which he will obtain ; for she
has said that she cares not to lose France, England, and
her own country for him, and shall go with him to the
world's end in a white petticoat efe she leave him. Yea,
she is so far past all shame, that she has caused make an
act of Parliament against all those that shall set up any
writing that shall speak anything of him. Whatever is
unhonest reigns presently in this court. God deliver them
from their evil ! '

Before any answer could be returned to Sir William,
his worst anticipations had been verified. With or with-
out her consent, Mary had been carried off by Bothwell.
Two days later another letter was sent from the Grange
to the English agent in Berwick. It ran as follows : 'The
Queen will never cease till she has wrecked all the honest
men of this realm. She was minded to cause Bothwell
ravish her, to the end that she may the sooner end the
marriage which she promised before she caused murder
her husband. There is many that would revenge the
murder, but that they fear your mistress. I am so suited
to, for to enterprise the revenge, that I must either take
it upon hand or else leave the country, which I am deter-
mined to do, if I can obtain license ; but Bothwell is
minded to cut me off ere I obtain it. The Queen minds
hereafter to take the Prince out of the Earl of Mar's
hands, and put him in his hands that murdered his father.
I pray your Lordship let me know what your mistress will
do, for if we seek France we may find favour at their
hands, but I would rather persuade to lean to England.'

86 FAMOUS SCOTS

That Kirkcaldy's determination to go abroad was not
merely empty and exaggerated talk was proved by the two
plain facts reported by Sir William Drury — that Grange
had sold all his corn and moveables, and that he had
obtained a license to leave Scotland for seven years. It
might have been well for him if his purpose had been
carried out ; but events shaped his conduct differently.

Sir William's communications were duly forwarded to
Elizabeth. The tone adopted by a subject in writing of
his sovereign was highly displeasing to the English Queen,
and shocked her exalted notions of regal dignity and
prerogative. She consequently vouchsafed no reply to
them ; but she took occasion to express her indignation to
Randolph, who thus reports to Leicester the substance of
her remarks to him on the subject of Kirkcaldy's plainly-
worded arraignment of Mary's conduct: 'Her Majesty
also told me that she had seen a writing sent from Grange
to my Lord of Bedford, despitefully written against that
Queen, in such vile terms as she could not abide the hear-
ing of it, wherein he made her worse than any common
woman. She would not that any subject, what cause
soever there be proceeding from the prince, or whatsoever
her life and behaviour is, should discover that unto the
world; and thereof so utterly misliketh of Grange's manner
of writing and doing, that she condemns him for one of the
worst in that realm, seeming somewhat to warn me of my
familiarity with him, and willing that I should admonish
him of her misliking. In this manner of talk it pleased
her Majesty to retain me almost an hour.'

In the meantime, discontent at the Queen's treatment
of Bothwell had been spreading through the country, and
was gradually assuming the tangible shape of a coalition
having for its avowed object the punishment of Darnley's
murderers. The leading men of the movement were
Argyle, Athole, and Morton. They made Stirling their
headquarters ; and it was there the Laird of Grange joined

KIRKCALDY OF GRANGE 87

them in the early days of May. On the eighth of that
month he again wrote to Bedford, no longer as a private
individual, but with the authorisation, and in the name of
the confederate Lords. 'All such things as were done
before the Parliament, I did write unto your Lordship at
large,' said he. 'At that time the most part of the nobility,
for fear of their lives, did grant to sundry things, both
against their honours and consciences, who since have
convened themselves at Stirling, where they have made a
" band " to defend each other in all things that shall con-
cern the glory of God and commonweal of their country.
The heads that presently they agreed upon is, first, to seek
the liberty of the Queen, who is ravished and detained
by the Earl of Bothwell, who was the ravisher, and hath
the strengths, munitions, and men of war at his command-
ment. The next head is the preservation and keeping of
the Prince. The third is to pursue them that murdered
the King. For the pursuit of these three heads they have
promised to bestow their lives, lands, and goods. And to
that effect their lordships have desired me to write unto
your lordship, to the end they might have your sovereign's
aid and support for suppressing of the cruel murderer
Bothwell, who, at the Queen's last being in Stirling,
suborned certain to have poisoned the Prince; for that
barbarous tyrant is not contented to have murdered the
father, but he would also cut off the son, for fear that he
hath to be punished hereafter. The names of the Lords
that convened in Stirling were the Earls of Argyle, Morton,
Athole, and Mar. These forenamed, as said is, have
desired me to write unto your Lordship, to the end that
I might know by you if your sovereign would give them
support concerning these three heads above written.
Wherefore I beseech your lordship, who I am assured
loveth the quietness of these two realms, to let me have
a direct answer, and that with haste; for presently the
foresaid Lords are suited unto by Monsieur de Croc, who

88 FAMOUS SCOTS

offereth unto them, in his master, the King of France's
name, if they will follow his advice and counsel, that they
shall have aid and support to suppress the Earl Bothwell
and his faction. Also he hath admonished her to desist
from the Earl Bothwell, and not to marry him ; for if she
do, he hath assured her that she shall neither have friend-
ship nor favour out of France, if she shall have to do : *
but his saying is, she will give no ear. There is to be
joined with the four forenamed lords, the Earls of Glen-
cairn, Cassillis, Eglinton, Montrose, Caithness; the Lords
Boyd, Ochiltree, Ruthven, Drummond, Gray, Glammis,
Innermeith, Lindsay, Hume, and Merries, with all the
whole West Merse and Teviotdale, the most part of Fife,
Angus and Mearns. And for this effect the Earl of Argyle
is ridden in the West, the Earl of Athole to the North,
and the Earl of Morton to Fife, Angus, and Montrose.
The Earl of Mar remaineth still about the Prince ; and if
the Queen will pursue him, the whole Lords have promised,
upon their faiths and honour, to relieve him. In this
meantime the Queen is come to the Castle of Edinburgh,
conveyed by the Earl Bothwell, where she intendeth to
remain until she have levied some forces of footmen and
horsemen, that is, she minds to levy five hundred footmen,
and two hundred horsemen. The money that she hath
presently to do this, which is five thousand crowns, came
from the font your Lordship brought unto the baptism ;
the rest is to be reft and borrowed of Edinburgh, or the
men of Lothian. It will please your Lordship also to
haste these other letters to my Lord of Moray, and write
unto him to come back again into Normandy, that he may
be in readiness against my Lords write unto him.'

This time Queen Elizabeth deemed it expedient to

take notice of Grange's communication ; and on the i yth

of May, she instructed Bedford as to the answers which

he was to return in her name, with regard to the three

* If any troubles should arise.

KIRKCALDY OF GRANGE 89

points indicated in the letter. As to the first of them — to
have their sovereign delivered from bondage — Elizabeth
pointed out that Mary's own statement to herself was at
variance with that of the Lords, and that the Scottish
Queen attributed their hatred of Bothwell to the anger
and disappointment which they felt at his having ' in her
distress recovered her liberty out of their hands/

Respecting the preservation of the young prince, Eliza-
beth professed not to understand what was intended —
whether the Lords merely wished to entrust him to the
care of his grandmother, Lady Margaret Lennox, or
whether they had some other object in view. She did
not hide her anxiety to get him into her own keeping ;
and suggestively added that if she could not be trusted
with his protection, she thought intermeddling with the
rest of the matters would prove more hurtful than profit-
able. The notion of placing the Crown on the child's
head in the event of his mother's marriage with Bothwell,
was one which Elizabeth altogether refused to entertain —
1 it was a matter for example's sake, not to be digested by
her or any other monarch.'

With reference to the pursuit of the murderers of the
King, the English Queen confined herself to the diplo-
matic remark that she saw great difficulties in the way of
undertaking it if Bothwell were to marry Mary.

Two days before this letter was written, the marriage
had actually taken place. This was the signal for open
and direct action on the part of the ' Associators.' With
two thousand horse, which they had collected in all haste,
they set forth from Stirling intending to seize Mary and
Bothwell in the Palace of Holyrood. But this plan
was frustrated by the sudden retreat of the Queen and
her husband to Borthwick Castle. Thither the con-
federates followed them ; but information of their advance
having preceded them, they were again disappointed.
Bothwell made good his escape, and betook himself to

90 FAMOUS SCOTS

the stronghold of Dunbar, which Mary f in men's clothes,
booted and spurred' also succeeded in reaching some
hours after him, for, to ensure safety, they had found
themselves obliged to part company.

On the 1 4th of June, the Queen and the Duke of
Orkney, as Bothwell was now styled, marched out of
Dunbar with an army of some four thousand men and
six field pieces of brass, and reached Prestonpans in the
evening. On receiving intelligence of these movements
the Associators set out from Edinburgh, to which they had
advanced from Borthwick ; and about mid-day on Sunday
the i5th of June, the opposing forces came into view of
each other at Carberry Hill, eight miles from the Capital.

The royal troops having taken up their position on the
hill, whilst the Lords had halted on the lower ground at
its foot, Kirkcaldy of Grange, together with Douglas of
Drumlanrig, Ker of Cessfurd, and Home of Cowden-
knowes, was sent, at the head of two hundred horse,
round the hill, towards the east side, for the double
purpose of cutting off Bothwell's retreat, and of securing
more favourable ground for an attack. The men, who in
obedience to the Queen's command, had gathered round
her standard, were but half-hearted in her cause; and
Bothwell's conduct had not increased their sympathy
with her. As soon as they found themselves hemmed
in between the infantry on the one side, and Kirkcaldy's
horse on the other, they began to desert in great
numbers, and it is asserted that Mary and Bothwell were
left with only sixty gentlemen and the band of arque-
busiers. Seeing this, the Queen asked who led the
cavalry. On learning that it was Grange, she sent
Cockburn of Ormiston to summon him to an interview
with her. After having informed the Lords of the
message, and obtained their consent, Sir William rode
forward. Although the Queen had pledged her word for
his safety, it is asserted by Sir James Melville, that

KIRKCALDY OF GRANGE 91

Bothwell had instructed a soldier to shoot him. Mary
perceived the man, as he was taking aim, and uttering a
loud cry, she exclaimed, 'Shame us not with so foul a
murder ! '

In his conversation with the Queen, Kirkcaldy assured
her that all in the field were ready to honour and serve
her on the condition that she abandoned the Earl of
Bothwell, who had murdered her husband, and who
could not be a husband to her, as he had but lately
married the Earl of Huntly's sister. Hearing these words,
Bothwell, who was standing near, exclaimed that he was
ready to fight, in single combat, any man who laid
Darnley's death to his charge : ' You shall have an answer
speedily,' said the Laird of Grange ; and riding back, he
obtained the Lords' permission to do battle as their
champion in the quarrel. On his return, however, he
was objected to by Bothwell, as being neither Earl, nor
Lord, but only a Baron, and consequently not his equal.
The Laird of Tullibardine next offered to fight, but was
refused on the same ground. ' Then,' exclaimed his elder
brother, Sir William Murray, ' I at least am his Peer ; my
estate is better than his, and my blood nobler.' Him too
Bothwell rejected, on the pretence that Tullibardine was
not his equal in degree of honour, and, wishing he said,
to have an Earl as his adversary, he selected Morton, who
at once answered that he would fight on foot with a two-
handed sword. Here, however, Lord Lindsay of the
Byres put in his claim, as a relative of the murdered
Darnley, and begged to be allowed to meet Bothwell.
This was granted him, and Morton presented him with
his own sword, a weapon he highly valued as having
belonged to his ancestor, the famous Earl of Angus,
' Bell-the-Cat.' But all those preliminaries led to no
result. Whether from pusillanimity, as some have main-
tained, or because of the Queen's interference, as others
have asserted, or, according to a third opinion, because

92 FAMOUS SCOTS

the Lords, amongst whom were some of his former con-
federates, wished him well away, for fear lest being taken
he might have revealed the whole plot, he retired from
the field, without having struck a single blow.

Left to herself, Mary again sent for Grange, and told
him that if the Lords would do as he had said, she would
renounce Bothwell, and go over to them. Sir William
having obtained their recognition of the promises which
he had made, again rode up the hill to communicate it to
the Queen. In reply, she said to him : c Laird of Grange,
I render myself unto you, upon the condition you re-
hearsed unto me.' With those words, she gave him her
hand, which the gallant soldier respectfully kissed. Having
helped her to mount, he led her horse by the bridle down
the hill towards the Lords, who received their Queen with
' all dutiful reverence.' Some of the meaner sort, however,
behaved in a very different manner ; to check their coarse
ribaldry, Grange struck at them with his drawn sword.

Mary's ignominious entry into Edinburgh, and the
treatment to which she was subjected after being taken,
not to Holyrood, but to the house of Sir Simon Preston
of Craigmillar, did not augur well for the observance of
the conditions which Sir William had been authorised to
grant on the field of Carberry. Indeed, there never
seems to have been a serious thought on the part of any
one except the Laird of Grange to keep faith with the
unfortunate Queen. He, however, had been thoroughly
sincere throughout ; and his indignation was therefore
great when he learnt that it had been resolved to relegate
Mary, as a prisoner for life, to the island fortress in Loch-
leven. When he protested against the violation of the
promise which he had made to the Queen, he was told
that on the very night of her return to Edinburgh, Mary
had written to Bothwell, and bribed one of her keepers to
get her letter conveyed to him, but that the man had
handed it over to the Lords. In this letter, it was

KIRKCALDY OF GRANGE 93

alleged, she called the Earl her Dear Heart, whom she
should never forget nor abandon, though she was obliged
to be absent from him for the time ; she assured him her
only object in sending him away had been to ensure his
safety; and she besought him to be comforted and to
remain on his guard.

Even though he does not appear to have questioned
the genuineness of her letter, Kirkcaldy urged that it did
not free them from the obligation contracted by them
towards the Queen. In spite of it, she had, in actual fact,
abandoned the Earl ; and that she should give him a few
fair words was, he said, no wonder. He expressed his
own conviction that ' if she were discreetly handled, and
humbly admonished what inconveniences that man had
brought upon her, she would by degrees be brought not
only to leave him, but ere long to detest him ; and there-
fore he advised to deal gently with her.'

To Sir William's earnest remonstrances, the Lords
replied that 'it stood them upon their lives and lands;
and that therefore, in the meantime, they behoved to
secure her ; and when that time came that she should be
known to abandon and detest Earl Bothwell, it would be
then time to reason upon the matter.' Their arguments
did not, however, satisfy him, and 'had it not been for
the letter, he had instantly left them.'

In the meantime, Mary had written to the Laird of
Grange, complaining of the harsh treatment to which she
had been subjected, and protesting against the breach of
faith of which she was the victim. His answer was to the
effect that he himself had already reproached the Lords
with their conduct towards her, but that they had shown
him a letter of hers to the Earl of Bothwell, in which
'Among many other fair and comfortable words,' she
promised never to abandon or forget him. 'That,' he
said, 'had stopped his mouth.' He went on to express
his wonder that her Majesty could consider herself wedded

94 FAMOUS SCOTS

to a man who had but recently married another woman,
and deserted her without any just ground. He besought
her ' to put him clean out of mind, seeing otherwise she
could never get the love or respect of her subjects, nor
have that obedience paid her, which otherwise she might
expect ; ' and he added ' many other loving and humble
admonitions, which made her bitterly to weep ; for she
could not do that so hastily, which process of time might
have accomplished.'

Judging that the most practical means of destroying
Bothwell's influence would be to get possession of his
person — a measure which had been strangely and, indeed,
suspiciously neglected at Carberry — and to bring him to
justice, Sir William readily accepted the command of an
expedition having for its object the capture of the Earl.
After Carberry, the Duke of Orkney had betaken him-
self to his dukedom, which had not yet seen its new
master. Having met with a very hostile reception at the
hands of Gilbert Balfour, the keeper of Kirkwall, he went
over to Shetland, where the more friendly bailiff, Olaf
Sinclair, supplied him with provisions. The two vessels
with which he had come from the south being but small,
he got possession of two Hanseatic ships, the Pelican
and the Breame. After forcibly seizing them and cast-
ing out their cargoes on the shore, as Geert Hemelingk
related, he had obliged the two German skippers to sign
a contract, so as to give his act of violence the appearance
of a legitimate transaction, and had begun a piratical
cruise amongst the islands. He was reported to have
killed the Bishop of Orkney's son and put all his servants
out of the castle.

On the 1 2th of August, Kirkcaldy, with whom was Sir
William Murray of Tullibardine, received seabrieves, * for
the seeking, searching, and apprehension of the Earl of
Both well and his accomplices.' Exactly a week later, he
set sail for Dundee, fully determined to give the pirate

KIRKCALDY OF GRANGE 95

Earl no chance of escape. In a letter to Bedford, written
immediately before his departure, he said : ' And for my
owne part, albeit I be no gud seeman, I promess unto
your Lordship, gyf I may anes encounter hym, eyther be
see or land, he shall either carie me with him, or else I
shall bryng him dead or quick to Edinburgh.'

The squadron under his orders consisted of four ships
— the Unicorn, on which he himself embarked, the Prim-
rose, the James, and the Robert. They were all heavily
armed, and had four hundred arquebusiers, besides the
respective crews.

Calling at Kirkwall, Grange was informed that Bothwell
was at Shetland, and at once made for the Bressay Sound.
There the Pelican and the Breame, with the two lesser
craft, were seen lying at anchor. A number of the men
belonging to the crews were on shore, and the Earl him-
self was dining with Sinclair. When those who remained
on board caught sight of the squadron as it entered the
Sound by the south, they slipped their cables, and setting
all sail, steered for the northern channel. In spite of the
remonstrances of his master-mariner, Kirkcaldy, bent on
carrying out the dashing tactics which he had so often
found successful in his cavalry charges on land, ordered
every stitch of canvas to be crowded on the Unicorn,
and hastened in pursuit. His ship sailed well, and was
gradually gaining on the hindmost of the fugitives ; but
it drew more water than they. Even for them, the
navigation of the rock-strewn channel was difficult and
dangerous. One of them grazed a sunken reef, over
which it barely managed to slip, though not without
damage. The Unicorn was less fortunate. Striking
the same rock with violence, it filled and sank so rapidly
that Grange and his men were with difficulty rescued by
the other ships. The rock that caused the catastrophe is
still known by the name of the vessel to which it proved
fatal.

96 FAMOUS SCOTS

When Bothwell heard of Kirkcaldy's arrival, he suc-
ceeded in reaching the Pelican, which, with its consorts,
had retired to Unst, the most northerly of the islands.
But before he could get safely away the pursuers were
upon him again. There followed a sharp engagement
which lasted three hours, and in the course of which the
mast of his best ship was shot down. He owed his
deliverance to a south-westerly gale which suddenly
sprang up and drove him out to sea, together with two
of his other ships. The fourth was captured; but Grange
was obliged to return to Dundee with a few prisoners of
inferior note. The Earl whom he had promised to take
quick or dead, had escaped to Norway.

IX. LANGSIDE— AND AFTER

WHILST Sir William Kirkcaldy was cruising in the
North, important events were taking place in the Capital.
The enforced abdication of Queen Mary had been
followed by the appointment of her half-brother, the
Lord James, Earl of Murray, to be Regent of the Realm.
One of his first acts was to obtain the surrender of Edin-
burgh Castle from Sir James Balfour, who had been
made Governor of it by the interest of Bothwell. That
had not prevented him, however, from siding with the
Lords when he saw the success of their arms. But,
'though they loved the treachery, they had no great
liking for the man.' And they were anxious to prevent
the possibility of his again turning against them, if
circumstances should seem to favour the Queen's party.
On the 24th of August, he agreed to deliver the fortress
into the Regent's hands, subject to certain conditions,
of which one was that the Laird of Grange should
succeed him as Governor and should pledge his word
for his safety. When Kirkcaldy returned to Edin-
burgh, he found himself appointed to the command of
what was then one of the most important strongholds
in Scotland.

For a few months after this, the country enjoyed a
brief respite. But the Queen's friends had not abandoned
her. On the third of May 1568, Murray, who was at
Glasgow on justiciary business, received the unexpected
and startling information that Mary had escaped from
Lochleven the day before. The news was soon con-

G 97

98 FAMOUS SCOTS

firmed by a message from the Queen herself, who, as
soon as she reached Hamilton, 'sent a gentleman to
the Earl of Murray and the other Lords, to declare that
she was delivered by God's providence out of captivity,
and albeit she had consented to a certain kind of
approving their authority, she was thereunto, for de-
fence of her life, compelled; seeing God had thus
mercifully relieved her, she now desired them that they
would restore her with quietness to her former dignity
and estate, and she would in like manner, wholly remit
all manner of actions committed against her honour and
person.'

Murray's unconditional refusal to resign the regency
and restore Mary, was followed on both sides by active
preparation for war. In answer to his proclamation
some 4,000 men assembled in Glasgow, which he had
made his headquarters. Amongst them was a body of
arquebusiers and archers, who had come from Edin-
burgh with Sir William Kirkcaldy. The Queen's partisans
had gathered round her in even greater numbers; and
contemporary accounts estimate the strength of her forces
at fully 6,000.

The Regent having received information that it was
Mary's intention to proceed to Dumbarton, drew up his
army outside the Gallowgate Port, but, at the same time,
he sent Kirkcaldy to reconnoitre the ground lying be-
tween the Clyde and Langside. He was thus prepared
to intercept the royal forces, whether the northern or the
southern side of the river were chosen for their line of
march.

Early in the morning of the i3th of May, the Queen
with her army started on her march to Dumbarton.
From the elevated position which he held at the Calton,
Murray perceived the advancing columns of the enemy
as they neared Rutherglen. As soon as it was ascertained
that the vanguard was not taking a northerly direction,

KIRKCALDY OF GRANGE 99

for the purpose of crossing the Clyde at the Dalmar-
nock ford, Grange, with an arquebusier mounted be-
hind each of his two hundred horsemen, rode with all
speed back to Glasgow, forded the river at the east
of the old Bridge, and made for Langside, where the
road to Dumbarton lay between a commanding emin-
ence and the Clyde, and where he had already selected
an advantageous position. On reaching Langside hill,
he posted his footmen at the head of a narrow lane,
where cottages and gardens afforded them shelter and
made it impossible for the enemy's cavalry to dislodge
them.

With his infantry and his ordnance, which was carried
in carts, Murray made all haste towards Langside, along
the route already taken by Grange. Although he had
further to march than had his opponents, the comparative
slowness of their movements, due partly to their greater
numbers, and partly to the confidence which they felt
that no attempt would be made to hinder their progress,
enabled him to reach the village and to take up his
position before they came in view. As soon as Lord
Claud Hamilton, who commanded the 2,000 men of the
Queen's vanguard, saw that the village was occupied, he
made an attempt to carry the lane in which Grange had
posted his infantry. A sharp fire checked the advance,
and threw the assailants into confusion for a time.
Rallying, however, they courageously and fiercely stormed
the hill held by Murray. Grange, to whose experience
and discretion it had been left to ' encourage and make
help where greatest need was,' was at this point; and,
as the foremost ranks came to close quarters, he gave
his men an order which illustrates the peculiar mode of
warfare of the time. He called out to them, says Melville,
who was present, ' to let their adversaries first lay down
spears, to bear up theirs.' A stubborn struggle ensued.
According to Buchanan's account, the two brigades held

TOO FAMOUS SCOTS

out a thick stand of pikes like a breast-work before them,
and fought desperately for half-an-hour, without yielding
ground on either side ; insomuch that they whose long
spears were broken, hurled pistols, daggers, stones, frag-
ments of lances, and whatever was at hand, into the faces
of the enemy.'

Another remarkable incident is mentioned by Melville.
1 So thick,' he says, ' were the spears fixed in others' jacks,
that some of the pistols and great staves that were thrown
by them which were behind, might be seen lying upon
the spears.'

In the meantime, Grange perceived that the right wing
of the Regent's vanguard, chiefly composed of men from
the Barony of Renfrewshire, was beginning to waver.
Hastening to them, he called out that the enemy was
already giving way, and besought them to hold out till
he returned with reinforcements. Then riding at full
speed to the Regent's left wing, which had been standing
in reserve, he obtained a body of fresh troops, with which
he dashed at the enemy's flank. This movement de-
cided the fate of the battle. The vanguard of the
Queen's army was forced to fall back upon the main
body, which, instead of supporting it and enabling it
to rally, broke into precipitate flight. Grange pursued
with the cavalry; but he 'was never cruel,' and more-
over, the Regent had issued orders to save and not to
kill, so that there were but few taken, and fewer slain.
No indiscriminate slaughter of his fleeing countrymen
was needed to make the victory complete and decisive.
His clever tactics and his courageous behaviour had
secured that already.

On the 8th of May 1568, immediately before his
departure to join the forces of the Regent in Glasgow,
Sir William Kirkcaldy, being obliged to withdraw a
considerable part of the garrison on which the safety,
no less of the Capital than of the stronghold depended,

KIRKCALDY OF GRANGE 101

took the precaution of securing the active co-operation
of the citizens themselves, for the repression of any
insurrectionary movement in the Queen's favour, by
means of a mutual bond signed by himself on behalf
of the Castle, and by Sir Simon Preston of Craigmillar,
Provost of Edinburgh, acting for himself, the bailies,
Council, and community. With many protestations of
loyalty to the 'most undoubted sovereign's Regent and
Governor, James, Earl of Murray/ and with strong
expressions of indignation at the * unnatural and un-
godly proceedings ' of those who were convened in arms
against him, it bound each of the contracting parties
to assist the other ' at all times and in all places needful,
against all and sundry.'

After his return from the brief but decisive expedition,
to the success of which he had materially contributed,
the Governor of the Castle was entrusted with the custody
of some of the most important of the prisoners taken at
Langside. A few months later, his steady adherence to
the Regent brought him the double distinction of being
raised to the dignity of Provost of Edinburgh, and of
being not only denounced by the leaders of the faction
which still looked upon the exiled Mary as the lawful
sovereign, but actually ordered by them to constitute
himself a prisoner, within twenty days, in the Castle
of Dumbarton. When next he appeared as a prominent
actor in the politics of the time, circumstances had
worked startling changes in the respective positions of
parties, and were already hurrying public men towards
a momentous crisis, under the influence of which old
ties were to be violently severed, and new sympathies
and new aims were to bring former friends into bitter
conflict with each other.

The policy which Elizabeth had adopted from the
moment when the Scottish Queen was in her power,
and the discovery of her scheme for assuming the virtual

102 FAMOUS SCOTS

management of Scottish affairs, after obtaining possession
of the infant prince, had produced a strong revulsion in
the feelings of many who had hitherto looked trustingly
and hopefully towards England ; and Murray's popularity,
already shaken by his severity towards Mary's adherents,
after the battle of Langside, sank lower and lower as proof
after proof of his subserviency to the English Government
was produced by his opponents. Those who, realising
the difficulty of his position, and believing that he was
as much the victim as the accomplice of the unscrupulous
policy of Elizabeth and her astute minister, Cecil, were
still inclined to give him credit for sincerity and honesty
of purpose, felt their confidence in him die away when,
to propitiate Elizabeth, he consented to the impeachment
of Maitland. Amongst them was Kirkcaldy. At first,
indeed, he could not bring himself to believe in the
Regent's responsibility for the step. Writing to Bedford,
he confessed that he was unable to give a better or
certain ground for the committing of Lethington to ward
but the malice and envy of some of his enemies, who by
means of a faction, had craftily induced the Regent to
do that which he was most unwilling to do. He was
assured, he said, that Murray in his heart sorely repented
that ever he had yielded to their passions ; and he felt
no doubt that the trial would result in a declaration of
the innocence of Lethington and the confusion of his
enemies.

The confidence which Kirkcaldy still endeavoured to
feel in his old friend Murray, was roughly shaken by a
letter which he received from Lord Doune, and from
which he learnt that it was a part of the Regent's plan
to get possession of Edinburgh Castle, and to entrust it
to the keeping of the Laird of Drumwhazel. So far as
he was personally concerned, Grange was so heartily tired
of public life, of the plotting and counter-plotting which

KIRKCALDY OF GRANGE 103

seemed to have become the very essence of politics, that
he would very willingly have surrendered his command,
and have withdrawn altogether from the Court. For the
sake of Lethington, however, whose danger he fully
realised, and to whom he knew that he might be of
service so long as he retained the power and influence
which the possession of the Castle gave him, he deter-
mined to remain at his post. At the same time, he
thought it his duty to remonstrate with Murray, and to
point out to him the injustice of his conduct towards
the Secretary, as well as towards Sir James Balfour
who had also been arrested, and in whom Kirkcaldy
was in so far interested, that, on taking over the com-
mand of the Castle, he had pledged his word for the
safety of the former Governor. In his reply, Murray
endeavoured to throw the whole responsibility upon
the Council. The members, he alleged, were so banded
together against Maitland and Balfour, and the charge
of murder brought against both of them was so grave,
that he could not take it on himself to release them
from custody. He promised, however, that, at his
next meeting with Kirkcaldy, he would explain his
views and show them to be perfectly honourable.
In the meantime, he besought him to suspend his
judgment.

Sir William refused to be satisfied with the obvious
evasion, and he met it with a bold and vigorous measure.
Seeing that it was really intended to bring Maitland and
Balfour to trial for their lives he demanded that Morton
and Archibald Douglas should be dealt with in the same
manner. He charged them with being ' upon the council,
and consequently art and part of the King's murder.'
In support of the accusation he offered to meet them in
single combat with Lord Herries as his fellow-champion.
This stayed the proceedings against the two prisoners for

104 FAMOUS SCOTS

a while. Still protesting that he was a helpless and un-
willing agent in the matter of their impeachment Murray
informed Kirkcaldy that he intended to send Balfour to
St Andrews, and to bring Lethington to Edinburgh for
the purpose of entrusting him to the safe-keeping of
the Governor of the Castle. At the same time, however,
Grange received information that this apparent concession
hid a treacherous plot against himself. It was intended
to make the Secretary an instrument to draw his friend,
the Governor, from the Castle into the town, under pre-
tence of handing the prisoner over to him ; and then
to retain him until the fortress had been given over to
Drumwhazel. Kirkcaldy was subsequently to be sent
home, and to be appeased with a gift of the Priory of
Pittenweem.

According to Melville, Morton had devised a more
unscrupulous plot, with a view to revenging himself upon
Kirkcaldy. ' He had appointed four men to slay Grange
at the entry of the Regent's lodging, without the Regent's
knowledge.' But the Governor had a scheme of his own,
which effectually thwarted those of his two adversaries.
Arguing that if, as he declared, the Regent had really
been coerced into sanctioning the arrest of Lethington,
he would be glad of his escape ; but that if, on the
contrary, he were playing a double game, his disappoint-
ment at losing his prisoner would expose his treachery,
the Laird of Grange resolved to rescue Maitland from the
hands of his enemies.

On his arrival in Edinburgh the Secretary was com-
mitted to the custody of Alexander Hume of North
Berwick. That same evening, about ten o'clock, Kirk-
caldy went to Hume with an order bearing what pur-
ported to be the Regent's signature. Hume knew that
Murray and the Laird had but lately been on terms of
the closest friendship; but he does not appear to have

KIRKCALDY OF GRANGE 105

been aware of their more recent estrangement and
antagonism. Suspecting no deception, and very possibly
unacquainted with the Regent's handwriting, he assumed
the genuineness of the document presented to him, and
allowed Maitland to be quietly conveyed to the Castle.

When Murray and his friends learnt that the Secretary
was no longer in their power they were in great perplexity,
* supposing all their counsels to be disclosed.' It was
thought best, however, that the Regent should cover his
anger for the time, and that he should take the earliest
opportunity of calling upon Grange at the Castle as
though nothing had happened. This he did the very
next day. But in his anxiety to deceive the Governor
he protested too much, and gave him more fair words
than he was wont to do, 'which Grange took in evil
part.'

The Castle was becoming the headquarters of Murray's
opponents. He had, prior to Maitland's arrest, induced
the Duke of Chastelherault and Lord Herries to come
to Edinburgh with a view to discussing the position of
affairs, and had then handed them as prisoners to the
custody of the Governor. Grange had duly received
them, but he treated them as friends and as guests, and
protested against the treachery of which they had been the
victims. John Wood, an ardent partisan of the Regent's,
was sent to the Castle for the purpose of appeasing and
conciliating the Governor. The substance of their con-
versation, as reported by Melville, goes far to explain
Kirkcaldy's attitude towards the party of which he had
once been a zealous supporter. ' I marvel at you,' said
Wood, ' that you will be offended at this ; for how shall
we, who are my Lord's dependers, get rewards, but by the
wreck of such men?' — 'Yea,' replied Grange, 'is that
your holiness? I see nothing among you but envy,
greediness, and ambition ; whereby you will wreck a good
Regent, and ruin the country.'

106 FAMOUS SCOTS

In spite of Murray's assumed indifference, Lethington's
escape caused him the most grievous disappointment and
annoyance ; and it was evident that he and Grange were
gradually being carried further apart. With a view to pre-
venting an open rupture between them, Melville devised
a plan, which he took it on himself to lay before the
Regent. He suggested that Lethington should retire to
France, and that after his friend's departure, Kirkcaldy
should, of his own accord, resign his command of
Edinburgh Castle. The Regent, however, still protested
that he bore Maitland no ill-will, and had no wish to
drive him into exile. As to Grange, he said he had too
many obligations to him, and too great proofs of his
fidelity to mistrust him. It had never been his intention,
he again declared, to take the Castle from him ; and if it
were not in his keeping already, he would entrust it to
him rather than to any other. He even went further than
that, and denied that he entertained any suspicion of
either Grange or the Secretary. In proof of the sincerity
of his words, he went up to the Castle and 'conferred
friendly with them of all his affairs, with a merry coun-
tenance, and casting in many purposes, minding them of
many straits and dangers they had formerly been together
engaged in.' But both Kirkcaldy and Maitland were too
well acquainted with him, and had too long 'been his
chief advisers under God,' not to detect the violent effort
which this show of friendship cost him. No good to
either party resulted from the interview. Indeed, it is
scarcely possible to doubt that an irremediable breach was
only prevented by Murray's tragic and untimely end.
He was shot by Bothwellhaugh on the 23rd of January
1569. Political differences were forgotten in the presence
of death ; and Kirkcaldy's grief at his former friend and
comrade's untimely fate was heartfelt and sincere. When
Murray's body was solemnly carried to its resting-place

KIRKCALDY OF GRANGE 107

in the Cathedral of St Giles, he was amongst those
who came to pay him the last tribute of respect. It
was he who, bearing the banner of the murdered Earl,
headed the mournful procession from Holyrood to the
church.

X. DEFECTION?

DURING the troubled days that intervened between the
death of Murray and the regency of Lennox, Sir William
Kirkcaldy, whilst continuing to assert his allegiance to the
youthful King, maintained his intercourse with Maitland
and the other leading men of the party which openly
favoured the captive Queen. The correspondence of the
time bears evident testimony to the importance which his
possession of the Castle gave him, and to the doubts
and fears with which his conduct inspired Elizabeth's
ministers. On the yth of April 1570, Randolph, who
had returned to Scotland, wrote to Cecil that he had
found in Grange great honesty and dutifulness to his
sovereign. Less than a week later he repeated the state-
ment, but with a suggestive limitation, and with the
expression of his fears that the Laird of Grange might
be ' enchanted ' by Lethington, whose efforts to bring back
his mistress to Scotland were attributed rather to a desire
' to spite others than to profit himself.' Writing to Cecil
on the 2 1 st of the same month, Sussex, the leader of the
English forces that had recently spread devastation through
Teviotdale, informed him that ' Grange was vehemently
suspected of his fellows ; ' and ' the defection of Grange '
was one of the indications which, about the same time,
he gave Elizabeth of the gradual falling off of the King's
adherents. In a communication bearing the date of
the 25th, Morton forwarded a scarcely less unfavourable
account. The furthest they could get from the Captain

108

KIRKCALDY OF GRANGE 109

of the Castle, he told Randolph, was that he should re-
main neutral. In explanation of this luke-warmness, the
writer repeated a rumour current at the time, that Kirk-
caldy had been bribed by Mary with the gift of the Priory
of St Andrews. That, he added, was the Secretary's
device, for Judas non dormit.

A similar report had reached the Governor's ears, and
he gave it a direct and emphatic denial, in a letter which
he addressed to Randolph on the 26th of April, and
which deserves notice as containing his own apology for
the line of conduct he was following : —

* BROTHER THOMAS, — I received your writing this
Wednesday at nine of the clock, and perceive thereby of
divers and sundry reports ye have heard of me, and of
your desires therefore to be assured, either by word or
writ, what ye may trust unto. Therefore, this is to
assure you, that I remain, and shall continue, the King's
faithful subject, and shall maintain his authority aye and
while the same be taken away by order of law. As to the
pursuit of my Lord Regent's murder, I shall be as ready
to the revenging thereof as any in Scotland; but I will
not take the deadly feud upon me of all the Hamiltons,
as some would I should do.

1 My grey hair has let me understand what truth and
constancy is in our nobility; therefore, brother, albeit
I will not enterprise as I have done, yet I pray you and
others not to have the worst opinion of me ; for since he
is dead I mind never to subject myself over-far to any of
them that are left behind, for I know their humour and
condition too well. I am sure it is come to your ears, that
I should give over this house for the Priory of St Andrews,
to the Lord Seaton ; which, truly, was never meant nor
yet laid to my charge, but is only sown abroad by them
that hate me, and would make me odious to the world.
Therefore, this shall be to assure you, and all others, that

no FAMOUS SCOTS

I shall keep this house to the King's behalf, until an order
be taken, or else the highest house in it shall be the lowest.
But now, to be plain with you, your manner of proceed-
ings make many to suspect ye intend to do otherwise
with us than ye have set out by your proclamation ; for
so have ye begun upon the Lord Maxwell, who has
never offended you, nor yet left the King's obedience, nor
yet had to do with your rebels.

'As I wrote before unto you, seeing that ye have
wrecked Teviotdale, whereby your Mistress's honour is
repaired, I pray you seek to do us no more harm;
for I am sure in the end you shall lose more than you
can gain thereby; for the Queen your Mistress shall
spend much silver, and lose our hearts in the end;
for whatsoever ye do to any Scotsman, the whole
nation will think them interested thereby. Amongst
other things, I am sure there come many evil reports of
me to you, for the putting to liberty of my prisoners.
But when ye shall understand what I had for me so to
do, 1 trust ye shall be satisfied. As I spoke to you and
wrote, if your Mistress pleases she may take up this whole
division that is in Scotland, and make the whole to be
hers and at her devotion. I will trouble you no further ;
but, I pray you, do as ye would be done to ; or else, all
the cloaks ye can cover your cause with will be disclosed
in the end. I am preparing this house to resist all that
shall pursue, and to hold you at the gate, whensoever ye
put on your jack. Till farther occasion, I bid you heartily
well to fare. At Edinburgh Castle, 26th April, at eleven
hours, in haste. — Your brother in perpetuum,

W. KlRKCALDY.'

Following closely upon this, Grange dispatched to the
Earl of Sussex a further and fuller explanation of his
conduct. It was in reply to a letter which the Lord-
Lieutenant had written a few days earlier, and of which

KIRKCALDY OF GRANGE in

the substance may easily be inferred from Kirkcaldy's
reply.

*Mv VERY GOOD LORD, — I have received your letter,
dated at Berwick, the 26th of this instant, the sum
whereof is to utter unto me such occurrents as by report
have gone to your Lordship of my doings, to the end that
by my affirmation or reproving of them, your Lordship
may understand what credit may be given to the said
reports. The whole matter rests in two heads — the one
that I have declined from mine old friends in this realm,
which heretofore have desired the amity of England ; the
other that I have given countenance, or gone further, with
others that have showed another course of their doings,
and capitulated with the French. Both the points are
general, and therefore the more difficult for me to answer
them particularly. Yet for your Lordship's satisfaction,
I will not leave you altogether unanswered. As to the
former point — that I have declined from my old friends —
I trust none of themselves will blame me of inconstancy
in friendship; and by the contrary, sure I am such as
have of old used friendly dealings with me, and were
worthy of themselves with whom an honest man might
maintain friendship, are yet still with me in the same
degree of amity they were wont to be. No occasion hath
proceeded of me, by my behaviour, to the breaking
thereof; as also that all my friends, so far as I know, are
yet still desirous of the amity of England. If any man
in this realm will charge me herein particularly, when, by
his own letter or speech to myself, he will utter his mind,
I shall answer him accordingly. As to the other point,
I have not altered my accustomed form of dealing with
the nobility of this realm, nor used me otherwise towards
them than becomes a man of my mean estate. I have
not given countenance to any that, to my knowledge,
mean unhonestly either to Scotland or England ; nor yet

ii2 FAMOUS SCOTS

have gone either further or nearer with any that in their
doings have showed an undutiful course. Who have
capitulated with the French, or after what sort, I know
not. A Frenchman, indeed, was lately here, sent, as he
affirmed, from the King of France. With him I spake,
upon his desire; and therein, I think I have done nothing
against my duty. For, this realm being at peace with all
nations, I see no cause why the subjects of all nations
may not freely resort amongst us, and have communication
with us in peaceable manner, principally Princes' avowed
servants. In all his conference with me, I assure your
Lordship, he used no language with me prejudicial to the
amity betwixt these two realms. How others have in
particular dealt with him, I know not. But for mine own
part, I wish no occasion be offered, on either part, to
disturb the quietness of this Isle; and whosoever shall
offer best means for the maintenance thereof, his doings
I shall best allow. For conclusion, as I have ever natur-
ally been affected towards the amity of England, and, in
particular, at my poor power, have borne a special devo-
tion towards the Queen's Majesty, as well for benefits
received of her father and brother, by me and my friends,
as for Religion's sake, and her honourable dealings with
this realm, in the beginning of her Majesty's reign, so I
will wish her Highness shall procure the union of this
nobility, and I doubt not she may bring it to pass, if it
please her. And if your Lordship will take that course
in hand, I trust assuredly it shall be easy for your Lord-
ship to begin and for her Majesty to end whereby the
whole nobility of Scotland may remain at her Majesty's
devotion ; and I, for my part, most earnestly desire it.
And so, leaving to trouble your Lordship further, for the
present, I commit your Lordship to the protection of God.
At Edinburgh Castle, the 2Qth of April, 1570.

WM. KIRKCALDY.'

KIRKCALDY OF GRANGE 113

Grange's letters were not agreeable to the English
agents. To accept his explanation would have been to
admit that, as he very clearly hinted, the defection was
not on his side, but on that of the English Government,
which, now that it had Mary in its power, was working as
persistently and as unscrupulously as ever the Guises
had done, to reduce Scotland to political dependence
and subjection, and was consequently losing the con-
fidence and alienating the sympathy of many of those who
had been staunch supporters of the English alliance so
long as they recognised in it a guarantee of their own
liberty. Randolph's reply, written on the first of May,
ignored the important point, and confined itself to the
secondary matters mentioned by Grange. The writer
expressed his satisfaction at learning the Governor's
determination to maintain the King's authority, but pro-
fessed his inability to understand the meaning of the
proviso ' until the same be taken away by order of law.'
He justified the severe treatment of Maxwell on the
ground that he had received and maintained the Queen
of England's rebels ; and, as to the liberation of the
Castle prisoners, he oracularly pronounced that Kirkcaldy
would some day repent it. He avoided expressing either
belief or incredulity in respect of the bestowal and accept-
ance of the Priory of St Andrews, which the Laird had
directly and emphatically denied, by bantering his 'brother
William ' about his unfitness to figure as an ecclesiastic.
' It was indeed most wonderful unto me,' he said, ' when
I heard that you should become a Prior. That vocation
agreeth not with anything that ever I knew in you, saving
for your religious life, led under the Cardinal's hat, when
we were both students in Paris.' He concluded with
a sarcastic allusion to Kirkcaldy's letter to the Lord-
Lieutenant. 'The Earl of Sussex has made me privy
to a very eloquent, fine-written letter of yours, which
passes my wit to understand. Either you have lately

H

ii4 FAMOUS SCOTS

altered your hand, your style, your manner, and your
meaning, or used the pen of some fine secretary.'

Sussex's reply was even less conciliatory. He con-
sidered the principal points raised by him to be utterly
unanswered. He was quite aware that it was lawful for
Kirkcaldy to use conference with the French or any other
nation, but he remembered the time when he would not
have dealt with them without the Queen of England's
knowledge and consent. As to the earnest desire that
the Queen should take in hand the union of the nobility
of Scotland, those words were very honourable but general,
and yielded no ground to conceive the writer's meaning
in particulars. Referring to himself, he said that the
course he had hitherto held consisted of two points : the
one, to be revenged on such as had maintained the rebels
of England ; and the other, to continue by all means the
good affection borne towards the Queen of England by
many of the nobility of Scotland, of which number he
had always accepted Grange to be a special person to be
accounted of.

Perceiving from this that Sussex was not ' fully satisfied
with his last writing,' Kirkcaldy informed him that he
meant to send a special friend to let him know c his full
intentions in all things.' If this messenger was ever sent,
the result of his mission was not satisfactory ; for, on the
4th of May, the Lord-Lieutenant addressed what he him-
self called ' a plain letter ' to the Lairds of Grange and
Lethington. After reproaching them with the ingratitude
of their conduct towards the Queen of England, he warned
them that, if they continued in their course, he would
take the field with all the forces at his disposal, and not
fail to take that revenge which should be honourable for
his Mistress.

Neither threats nor blandishments could avail to turn
Kirkcaldy from the purpose which he had set himself.
That which, to those who were anxious and impatient to

KIRKCALDY OF GRANGE 115

have the weight of his influence and the support of his
authority on their side, seemed the result of a halting
policy, was due to his earnest and sincere desire to avert,
if possible, an outbreak of hostilities. He still cherished
a lingering hope that Elizabeth might adopt a course of
action which would not oblige him wholly to cast aside
his old sympathy with England. As late as the 5th of
July, Randolph was able to say of him that ' he doubted
not of his honesty.' If proof were required that the
whole responsibility for the apparently vacillating con-
duct of those who, like Grange, put the welfare of their
country above mere party considerations, lay with the
English Queen, it could be adduced in the very words
of her own agent. Writing to Sussex, Randolph did
not hesitate to inform him that the public feeling was
one of distrust in Elizabeth, 'who so often changed
her course/ That, he said, was in almost every man's
speech, and preached in pulpit plainer than he listed to
write.

About the middle of July, the King's Lords, as the
opponents of the exiled Queen were now called, took a
step which did not augur well for the pacification of the
country. They held a convention in Edinburgh, for the
purpose of conferring the Regency on Lennox, who had
practically been chosen by Elizabeth. He had been for
years a pensioner on her bounty, and he was known to
be wholly devoted to her interests.

If Grange had been actuated by the sentiments of
hostility which some chose to attribute to him, he could
have struck a decisive blow by bringing down the Tol-
booth about the ears of those who were assembled within
it with the intention of sanctioning and adopting a policy
which he believed to be fraught with danger to Scotland.
He contented himself, however, with absenting himself
from the convention, to which he had been summoned,
as a member of the Privy Council, — a dignity which he

u6 FAMOUS SCOTS

held in virtue of his office, as Provost of Edinburgh, and
with refusing 'to shoot off any piece of ordnance upon
request, after the proclamation.'

Instead of giving Grange credit for his attitude of
neutrality, Sussex chose to take umbrage at it. In
another of those letters which he prided himself on
writing 'somewhat plainly,' he reproached the Governor
with inconsistency in professing to be 'at the Queen of
England's devotion in all matters that might continue
the amity between both realms,' and yet refusing to join
the Lords convened in Edinburgh. On the very same
day, the Earl showed the sincerity of his own desire for
amity by writing to Cecil, to suggest a pretext on which
the West Borders of Scotland might be invaded, and the
Scots weakened — a pretext which Elizabeth admitted that
she 'liked very well,' and which, before long, was duly
seized upon.

Throughout all this plotting and intriguing, the party
which had Knox and the Presbyterian clergy at its head,
still continued, in its hostility to Mary, to put faith in
Elizabeth and her ministers. To the members of it,
Grange's policy caused the greatest anxiety, and the
remonstrances which they deemed it their duty to
address to their former champion were frequent and
vigorous. Verse as well as prose was brought to bear
upon him, and a ' Hailsome Admonition,' published
by the balladist, Robert Semple, presumably about the
beginning of September, when the interference of both
France and Spain was feared, may serve to show the
spirit of these exhortations. It opens with an ungrudging
recognition of Grange's services in the past : —

O Lamp of licht and peirless Peirll of pryse I
O worthy Knicht, in martiall deidis most ding ! *
O worthy wicht, most vailzeant, war, and wyse !
O Captaine, ay constant to the King !

* Worthy.

KIRKCALDY OF GRANGE 117

O Lustie Lord, that will na wayis maling !
O Barroun bauld, of Cheualry the floure !
O perfyte Prouest, but maik into this Ring ! *
O gudely Grange, but spot vnto this houre !

After recapitulating Kirkcaldy's exploits, the poet
touches on a delicate subject — the disinterested policy
of England — and indicates by his doubtless sincere belief
in it, the real and essential cause of disagreement between
Grange and his former associates.

Quhat neids ye skar, thocht Ingland do support vs,

To puneis sic as proudly dois Rebell ?

That tyme at Leith thou knawis they did comfort vs,

And maid vs fre quhen strangers did vs quell,

And never socht na profitte to thame sell :

Thou neids not feir, that hous thay never craifit :

The Regent say is, sa far as I heir tell,

Wald thow be trew thair can na better haif it.

A threat more sorrowful than angry, of Divine vengeance,
if the Captain abandoned the cause which Semple and his
friends still believed to be that of religion, closes the
spirited poem : —

Thocht at this tyme thow haif that warlyke craig,
And is in hart curagious and bald,
God will nocht mys to scurge the with a plaig
Gif in his caus thow lat thy curage cald.
As thow may se, thick scurgis monyfald
Lich vpon thame that proudly dois disdane.
Except the Lord be watche man of the hald,
Quha walkis the same, thair laubour is in vane.

Before the close of the year 1570, an incident which was
not directly connected with the politics of either party, and
to which but little importance would probably have been
attached, but for the intense excitement of the times, brought
Kirkcaldy into direct conflict with John Knox himself. In
the beginning of December, Sir William's first cousin, John

* Without equal in this kingdom.

n8 FAMOUS SCOTS

Kirkcaldy, the same in whose quarrel he had fought with
Ralph Evers, was called to attend a justice-court in
Dunfermline, as a juryman on a murder trial. During
his stay in the town, he was attacked, whilst peacefully
going to church, by George and Laurence Durie, brothers
to the Commendator of the Abbey, and by several friends
of theirs, amongst whom was a young man named Henry
Seton. The immediate cause of the quarrel is not stated.
But the two families stood on such bad terms that a very
slight circumstance may have sufficed to give rise to it.
According to Grange's statement, the house of Durie had
done many injuries to him and his ; and he attributed
the death of his father-in-law, the Laird of Raith, who had
been executed on a charge of treason, to the animosity of
the head of that family. ' Since that time,' he asserted
further, 'the Duries had continuallie troubled Raith's
posteritie and friends, in their righteous titles, native
estates and possessions.' On the present occasion, the
actual aggressor was George Durie, who ' ignominiously
buffeted John Kirkcaldy with his fist.' When the latter
attempted to defend himself, he was set upon by Laurence
Durie, and Henry Seton, and would, in all probability, have
been killed, if the Provost had not opportunely interfered.
A few days later, Seton, being in Edinburgh, chanced to
meet some of the Laird of Grange's servants in the streets,
and insulted them, not with words, but * with jesting and
mocking countenance.' This having been reported to the
Laird, he resolved to punish the young man for the double
offence of abetting the Duries and affronting the Kirkcaldys.
For this purpose he sent six of his men to Leith, where
Seton was to embark on his return journey to the Fifeshire
shore, and gave them instructions to administer a sound
castigation with cudgels, but, on no account to use their
arms. Finding himself suddenly attacked, the young
man drew his sword, and used it to such good purpose
that one of his assailants fell seriously wounded to the

KIRKCALDY OF GRANGE 119

ground. At the sight of his blood, his companions
forgot the restriction that had been put upon them, and
continued the fray with sharper weapons. Out-numbered
as he was, Seton might have succeeded in reaching the
boat that was waiting for him, if he had not unfortunately
tripped and fallen over a cable. As he lay helpless, some
of the aggressors thrust their swords into him, and left
him dead on the shore. After perpetrating this outrage,
they retreated at full speed towards the Castle, closely
followed by a number of the citizens. One of them
was captured before reaching the North Loch, which
was frozen at the time, and over which the other four
succeeded in crossing. Here the pursuers were held in
check by the Captain, who having noticed the chase, had
come out with a body of soldiers, and threatened to fire
if any further attempt were made to molest the fugitives.
Fleming, the one man who had been captured, and in
whose defence it was subsequently urged that he was not
actually concerned in the murder, was lodged in the
Tolbooth ; and his release having been refused, Kirkcaldy
determined to take the law into his own hands, and to set
him free. The Governor must still have had many sym-
pathisers in the city, for it is stated that ' the deacons of
the crafts were easily persuaded to assist him in his wicked
enterprise.' Having ordered a battering-ram to be made
ready for use against the prison gate, if force should be
necessary, and got the guns of the Castle loaded and
prepared for action, Kirkcaldy, at the head of a strong
body of men, set out, without noise or clamour, between
six and seven o'clock, on a dark evening, a few days
before Christmas, for the purpose of liberating James
Fleming. Men armed with culverins and pikes were
posted so as to prevent access, by any side approach, to
the street leading from the Castle to the prison. Grange
and Lord Home stationed themselves above the Upper
Tron, with the object of securing a safe retreat ; and the

120 FAMOUS SCOTS

Laird of Drylaw was sent forward to demand the surrender
of the prisoner. That having been refused by the jailor,
the battering-ram was brought forward, and the gates
were forced open. According to reports circulated at
the time, the soldiers not only carried off their comrade
Fleming, but also set free another prisoner — a woman —
probably Bothwellhaugh's wife, who had been appre-
hended on a charge of complicity in the murder of the
Regent. After Kirkcaldy and his men had returned from
their nocturnal expedition, 'nine great cannons were dis-
charged ' from the ramparts, ' to give the Regent who was
then in the town, a defiance in his face.' Fortunately,
however, for the guns were shotted, * no harm was done,
but that John Wallace's house was shot through, and a
barn in the Cannongate.'

John Knox was in Edinburgh at the time ; and raised
his powerful voice in condemnation of * so slanderous, so
malapert, so fearful, and so tyrannous a deed. For,'
said he, c if the committer had been a man without God,
a throat-cutter, one that had never known the works of
God, it would have moved me no more than other riots
and enormities which my eyes have seen the Prince of
this world, Satan, to raise by his instruments. But to see
the stars fall from heaven, and a man of knowledge com-
mit so manifest treason, what godly heart cannot lament,
tremble, and fear ? God be merciful ! for the example is
terrible, and we have all need earnestly to call to God,
that we be not led into temptation ; but specially to
deliver us from the company of the wicked ; for, within
these few years, men would have looked for other fruits
than have budded out of that man.'

As soon as the Reformer's rebuke was communicated
to him, Kirkcaldy replied to it in a letter which he
addressed to Craig, the minister of the church, to whom
it was delivered as he was in his pulpit. It ran as
follows : ' This day John Knox, in his sermon, called me,

KIRKCALDY OF GRANGE 121

openly, a murderer and a throat-cutter, wherein he hath
spoken farther than he is able to justify. For I take God
to witness, if it was my mind that the man's blood should
have been shed, of whom he calleth me the murderer.
And the same God I desire, from the bottom of my heart,
to pour out his vengeance suddenly upon him or me,
which of us two hath been most desirous of innocent
blood. This I desire you, in God's name, to declare
openly to the public. At Edinburgh Castle, the 24th of
December 1570.'

Craig, however, refused to comply with the request
contained in the latter part of the letter, stating that he
would read nothing from the pulpit without the knowledge
and consent of the Kirk. In another letter, which he
wrote to the Kirk Session of Edinburgh, Kirkcaldy gave
his version of what had happened, throwing all the
blame on the Duries, and protesting his innocence of any
intention to cause the death of Seton.

To the first of these letters, Knox publicly made reply
on his next appearance in the pulpit, denying that he had
ever made use of the words imputed to him. ' Is there
any of you,' he asked, 'that heard me, in this public
place, call the Laird of Grange, now Captain of the
Castle of Edinburgh, a cruel murderer, an open throat-
cutter, and one whose nature I had long known to be
bloodthirsty? I accused indeed, that unjust and cruel
murder ; I affirmed the violating of the house of justice
to be treason ; and finally I complained, that the like
enormity and pernicious example I never saw in Scotland.
Not but I had seen murder and rebellion before; yea,
I have seen magistrates gainstood, and the supreme
magistrates of the Crown besieged in their own tolbooth ;
and I have seen condemned persons violently reft from
the gallows and gibbet. But none of all these forenamed
can be compared to this last outrage. For, if the masters
and authors of this last riot had been known before to

122 FAMOUS SCOTS

have been open throat-cutters, bloodthirsty men, and such
as had been void of the true fear of God, I would have been
no more moved at this time, than I have been at other
times before. But, to see stars fallen from Heaven;
to see men who have felt as well God's judgments as
mercies, in a past ; and to see men of whom all godly
hearts have had a good opinion — to see, I say, such men
so far carried away, that both God and man are not only
forgot, but also publicly despised, is both dolorous and
fearful to be remembered.' Then, referring to Kirk-
caldy's escape from Mont Saint-Michel, the preacher con-
tinued : ' For I have known that man in his greatest
extremity, when he might have set himself at freedom
by shedding of blood, at the counsel of sober men, he
utterly refused all such cruelty, and took a hazard to the
flesh most fearful; which God notwithstanding blessed,
having a respect to the simplicity of his heart. And,
therefore, then I said, and yet I say, that this example
in him is the most terrible example that ever I saw in
Scotland. I know that some have made other report.
But, in their face I say, that of their father the Devil
they have learnt to lie, wherein if they continue without
repentance, they shall burn in Hell.'

In a letter to the Kirk-Session, Knox again denied
having called Kirkcaldy a murderer and a cut-throat ; but
maintained that he had only done his duty in publicly
denouncing a public outrage. Unwilling to prolong the
controversy, Kirkcaldy declared himself satisfied that the
words at which he had taken offence were uttered in
lament, and for amendment of his fault, and not to his
hurt, injury, or defamation, and formally withdrew his
complaint. But Knox was not content with a view that
implied a recantation on his part ; and on the following
Sunday, when the Captain, after nearly a year's absence
from Divine Service, again appeared in St Giles's, the
Reformer, construing his presence into an open defiance,

KIRKCALDY OF GRANGE 123

denounced 'proud contemners,' and warned them that
God's mercy appertained not to such as, with knowledge,
proudly transgressed, and thereafter most proudly main-
tained their transgression.

The excitement produced by an open quarrel between
two such men as Knox and Kirkcaldy was not confined
to the Capital. Exaggerated rumours were circulated
from town to town, and in several places there arose a
belief that Grange had sworn the death of the Reformer.
Acting on this, a number of noblemen and gentlemen
wrote from Ayr to the Laird of Grange, to signify their
strong condemnation of his conduct. They could hardly
believe, their protest ran, that he who had been, not a
simple professor, but a defender of religion, could be
moved to do any harm to him on whose safety the
prosperity and increase of religion depended; and they
deprecated any hostile design against the man whom God
had made both the first planter, and also the chief waterer
of his Kirk amongst them, and whose welfare was as dear
and precious to them as their own.

Kirkcaldy had thought the incident of sufficient im-
portance, under the existing circumstances, to justify his
reporting it directly to the English Government himself.
In replying to his letter, it suited Cecil to adopt the lofty
moral tone which he knew would meet with the approval
of the Clerical party. After condemning the 'heinous
fact,' and expatiating on its guilt in one ' having a place
of government committed to him, and having for so many
years made the world think that he professed the Evangel,'
he closed his letter in these sharp terms : — ' how you will
allow my plainness I know not ; but surely I should think
myself guilty of blood if I should not thoroughly mislike
you; and to this I must add, that I hear, but yet am
loath to believe it, that your soldiers that broke the prison
have not only taken out the murderer your man, but a
woman that was there detained as guilty of the lamentable

124 FAMOUS SCOTS

death of the late good Regent. Alas ! my Lord, may this
be true? And, with your help, may it be conceived in
thought that you — you, I mean, that were so dear to the
Regent, should favour his murderers in this sort. Surely,
my Lord, if this be true, there is provided by God some
notable work of His justice to be shewed upon you ; and
yet I trust you are not so void of God's grace : and so
for mine old friendship with you, and for the avoiding the
notable slander of God's word, I heartily wish it to be
untrue.'

Cecil had no reason to congratulate himself on having
given credence to details for which he had not the
authority of Kirkcaldy himself. In reply to his epistle,
the Captain of the Castle was able to inform him that the
woman, whose supposed escape had aroused his indigna-
tion, was still in the Tolbooth.

XL THE HOLDING OF THE CASTLE

IN the summer of 1570, the treacherous advice of Sussex
had been followed, and, under pretence of punishing
those who had given shelter to the rebellious Dacres, he
had been sent, with an army of four thousand men, into
Annandale, which he ravaged with such remorseless ferocity
that, in his own words, not a stone house was left to an
ill neighbour within twenty miles of Carlisle. This un-
justifiable act of aggression may be looked upon as one
of the immediate causes that led Grange decisively and
irrevocably to throw in his lot with the party which re-
fused to recognise the authority of Lennox. A two
months' truce delayed what had now become an in-
evitable step on his part. And even then, when the
crisis came, it had been hurried on by Lennox's action.
On the i Qth of March, before the actual expiration of the
armistice, he caused proclamation to be made in Edin-
burgh, forbidding, upon pain of treason, that any should
serve Grange, and commanding those who were already
with him to leave him within three days. On the same
afternoon, Kirkcaldy retaliated by causing Captain Mel-
ville to go through the town, with beat of drum, offering
pay to all such as would repair to the Castle. Next day
he took possession of the Abbey and of St Giles's, and put
men and munitions into them. He further levied provi-
sions from the Leith merchants, and took every measure
of prudence and precaution that a long military experience
suggested, with a view to enabling the Castle to stand a
long siege. He was so satisfied with the result of his

125

126 FAMOUS SCOTS

efforts that he indulged in a ' rowstie ryme ' in which,
besides reviling his enemies and casting upon them the
entire responsibility for the calamities under which the
country was groaning, he proudly set forth all that he
had done to resist any attempt on their part to drive
him from his stronghold.

For I haue men and meit aneugh,
They know I am ane tuilyeour teoch,

And wilbe rycht sone graved :
When thei haue tint als mony teith,
As thei did at the seige of Leith,

They wilbe faine to leive it.
Then quha, I pray you, salbe boun

Thair tinsall to advance ?
Or gif sic compositione

As thei got then of France ?
This sylit, begylit,

They will bot get the glaikis ;
Cum thai heir, thir tuo yeir,

They sail not misse thair paikis.*

On the 1 3th of April, when, in answer to his call, a
considerable number not only of soldiers, but of powerful
noblemen and gentlemen also, had gathered about him,

* For I have men and meat enough,
They know I am a fighter tough,

And will be right soon grieved ;
When they have lost as many teeth,
As they did at the siege of Leith,

They will be fain to leave it.
Then who, I pray you, shall be bound

Their losses to make good ?
Or give such composition

As they got then of France ?
Thus blinded, beguiled,

They will but get a cheat ;
Come they here, these two years

They shall not miss their thrashing.

KIRKCALDY OF GRANGE 127

he issued a proclamation in which he charged the Earl of
Lennox with having unlawfully usurped the government
of the kingdom, and with having unjustifiably circulated
calumnies, injuries, and untrue reports about him, and
which, after declaring with pardonable pride and damag-
ing truth, that he had risked his life for Scotland when
the new Regent was against it, he closed with a char-
acteristic challenge : —

'If anie gentleman undefamed, of my qualitie and
degree, of his factioun and perteaning to him, will say
the contrare heerof but I am a true Scotish man, I will
say he speeketh untruelie, and leeth falslie in his throat ;
and denounce by thir presents to whatsomever persons
will take the said querrell in hand, I sail be readie
to fight with him on horsebacke or on foote, at time
and place to be appointed, according to the lawes of
armes.'

When the Captain's preparations were complete, he set
himself to the task of training the garrison. For that
purpose he devised a sham assault, which the chronicler
who records it, ignorant of military matters, sets down as
a foolish skirmish, and as mere boastful display. His
graphic description of it, however, is interesting as a
quaint picture of mediaeval warfare. 'The one part of
the Captan's souldiours tooke upon them to skirmishe,
in manner of an assault to the Castell ; the other part of
the Captan's gentlemen took upon them the defence and
keeping of the Castell. The skirmishe continued from
eight houres at night till nyne. It was demanded from
the Castell, who these were that troubled the Captan,
under silence of night? It was answered by the other
partie below, that they were the Queen of England's
armie. These beganne brawling and flytting ; and these
in the Castell answered, " Away, lubbard ! Away, blew-
coat ! I defy thee, white-coat ! " " Dirt in your teeth ! M
" Hence, knaves, and goe tell that whoore, your mastresse,

128 FAMOUS SCOTS

yee sail not come heere. We lett you know, we have
men, meat, and ordinance for seven yeeres." About the
end of the skirmishe, three cannons were discharged,
and the counterfoot assaulters tooke the flight.'

That no misrepresentation of the course which he had
been driven into adopting should supply the English
Government with a pretext for laying the resumption of
hostilities to his charge, Kirkcaldy wrote a full justifica-
tion of his conduct to Sussex, Leicester, and Burghley. It
ran as follows : ' I have received your letter, dated at
Westminster the yth of this instant, and thereby under-
stand that your Lordships have, upon the sight of my
letters and the Marshal of Berwick's report, rightly con-
ceived my meaning touching the pacification of these
inward troubles and continuation of the amity between
these two realms, which course I intend still to follow
further, so far as I may conveniently. I greatly mislike
that a part of this nobility should go about by all means
to destroy the other ; and would wish that on both parts
they should moderate their passions, being content every
one of his own rank and degree, and not seek by extra-
ordinary means one to overthrow the other. As to the
amity between the realms, if any occasion has fallen out
of late time, or shall fall out hereafter, which may
disturb, change, or diminish the intelligence happily
begun, I protest that I have detested, and shall detest
such as are the occasioners thereof; and wish that your
Lordships hold hand to remove all such incidents as may
breed a misliking on your part ; the best whereunto is to
procure that the Queen's Majesty, your sovereign, hold
the balance equal to both the sides, showing like favour
and good countenance to both, so that neither party may
think themselves prejudged till the difference for the
title for the Crown may by her means be compounded,
or brought to an end. For my own part, the Earl of
Lennox (whom I never thought a fit person to bear any

KIRKCALDY OF GRANGE 129

rule, for the great imperfections which are known to be
in him) has so ungently, unreasonably and unlawfully
used me, that he has compelled me to provide for my
own security, and of the place which I have in charge,
and to stand upon my guard with him. Besides many
injuries and wrongs which he before had done, against
all good order, to me and my friends, whereat I partly
winked, and lightly overlooked them, he has of late
charged by open proclamations, that all the soldiers
which I keep for the preservation of this place, do depart
from me and leave my service, by which doing he has
uttered his ill-will and intention he had to denude me of
my forces, whereby the place, for lack of men to defend
it, might fall as a prey in his hands. And when he saw
that his commands in that behalf were not obeyed, his
malice has burst out further, to set further false and
calumnious proclamations against me, full of injurious
language, such as neither he nor any of his faction dare
maintain, thinking thereby to have made me odious to
the people. But my behaviour in times past, and hazard-
ing of my person and goods, for the liberty of my country
and duty to my friends is so well known in Scotland, that
I am not afraid that anything the Earl of Lennox or his
faction can speak or do, who has not as yet given the like
proof, may make men that know me to doubt of my
honesty. Since he has made open demonstration to be my
enemy, I could do no less than let him know the like of me,
and so have been forced to join myself with such of the
nobility as would concur with me, and provide every way
for my own surety, wherein I doubt not but your Lord-
ships will not only bear with me, but also allow of my
doings.

' For nature teaches both men and beasts to procure
means for their own preservation, and to avoid all things
tending to the contrary. And yet I dare undertake, if
it shall please the Queen's Majesty your mistress, to pro-

i

1 30 FAMOUS SCOTS

secute the course she has begun, for according the differ-
ence for the title of the Crown, and to show her favour
in the mean season indifferently to both parties, that
number of noblemen, with whom I have joined myself,
shall be as far at her Majesty's devotion, and as able
every way, and as willing, to entertain the good in-
telligence between the realms as any others ; and, indeed,
they are no less able to serve her Majesty's turn. As to
the abstinence mentioned in your Lordships' letter, I
shall willingly accommodate myself to everything ac
corded between the Commissioners for both parties, not
only in the order of the Castle of Edinburgh, but all
other things lying in my power; and shall attempt
nothing farther than the surety of myself and place I
have in charge shall force me, unless the others attempt
to do injury to me or my friends, in which case the Earl
of Lennox shall have no cause to look for quietness, if
he make occasion to me and my friends to stand in
doubt of our own surety ; for I am resolved to use him
as he shall do me and my friends. I have seen hereto-
fore how the former abstinences have been kept on his
part, and I know what harm my friends have sustained
under the colour thereof; so that I would look for little
better at his hand now, were not the trust I repose in her
Majesty, who I doubt not will overrule him and bridle
him from disordered doings ; upon the confidence
whereof, her Majesty shall have experience what rever-
ence I bear to her Highness, and how far I respect your
Lordships' advice. As to the common quietness in the
town of Edinburgh, and people therein, I assure myself
none of them will complain ; for of truth, there is no
man within the compass of the same has received injury
or violence, by word or deed, of me or any of mine ;
whereof I desire your Lordships to assure her Majesty.
So, not willing to trouble your Lordships farther, I

KIRKCALDY OF GRANGE 131

commit your Lordships to the protection of the Almighty
God. From Edinburgh Castle, the 2ist of April 1571.
Your Lordships' to command,

W. KIRKCALDY.'

Hostilities between the garrison of the Castle and the
Regent's forces, which were encamped at Leith, began
on the 2 Qth of April, with a skirmish at Lowsilea. Next
day, Kirkcaldy issued a proclamation, commanding all
who sympathised with Lennox, to leave the city within
six hours, and requiring the citizens to be within doors,
after nine o'clock every night. Two days later, he fol-
lowed this up by demanding the keys of the city from
the bailies, and setting his own men to guard the gates ;
and his next step was to plant artillery on the roof and
steeple of St Giles's.

About the beginning of May, the Regent made an
attempt to hold a Parliament, but was driven off by the
Castle guns. On learning this, Queen Elizabeth made
a great show of indignation. It was ' necessary for her
that the Regent and his party should not be ruined.'
Nor, indeed, did it suit her that either faction should
obtain the upper hand independently of her. She con-
sequently directed Sir William Drury to tell Grange and
the noblemen joined with him, that she strongly dis-
approved of their conduct in preventing the Regent and
his friends from holding a Parliament to appoint com-
missioners to treat with those of the Queen of Scots.
In energetic language she desired him to * condemn
Kirkcaldy of falsehood and untruth' if it were actually
the case that he had said, as had been reported to her,
that Lennox was ' sworn English against his country,'
and meant to deliver all the castles and strongholds to
her ; and to require him to give her full satisfaction on
this point. She further instructed him to inform the

1 32 FAMOUS SCOTS

Captain that, if he continued to increase the troubles of
the realm, she would 'judge that to be true which, by
some had been long doubted, that he and his companions
were partially disposed, for their own lucre and to main-
tain their disordered authorities, to continue these in-
ward troubles, by pretending to favour the Queen, with
whom it was known that, before time, they could not be
content.' If this should not be enough, Drury was to
add " some sharper speech " of his own.

In his reply to this communication, Kirkcaldy assured
the Queen of England that his enemies had misreported
him. Had it really been the intention of Lennox and his
party to choose persons authorised to carry on the
negotiations referred to by her Highness, he would have
given them free access to Edinburgh. But he had been
told by Morton himself, that ' the treaty was dissolved in
England, and clean cut off without any promise of abstin-
ence, or hope of recontinuation.' He pointed out that, if
the Lords did not get entrance into the town, they, never-
theless, did hold a Parliament outside the walls ; and, as
they did not then appoint commissioners, he concluded
that it had never been their object to do so. He denied
ever having told the people, in his proclamations, that
Lennox was ' sworn English against his country • ' but he
admitted that, in private conversation, he had said that
the Earl was the Queen of England's subject by oath.
Again protesting his pacific intentions, his unselfish aims,
and his respect for Elizabeth, he offered to do battle
against any gentleman undefamed, of England or Scot-
land, who dared charge him with having written or
uttered any word against her honour.

Elizabeth admitted that Grange's reply was not un-
reasonable, and that she did not mislike it. In truth,
she found it admirably suited to her purpose. On the
strength of its conciliatory tone, she could approach
Lennox, and bring pressure to bear on him, by declaring

KIRKCALDY OF GRANGE 133

that his opponents were ready to accept her mediation,
and by making him responsible for the continuance of
hostilities, unless he, too, consented to submit the whole
quarrel to her arbitration. It was in this sense that, on
the yth of June, she addressed another long letter of
instructions to Sir William Drury.

Apart from a series of sorties and raids, which con-
temporary chroniclers faithfully record, with scrupulous
minuteness, even, at times, to the names of the wounded,
and the nature of their hurts, no incident of special interest
marked the civil war till the nth of June. On that day
Kirkcaldy, to whose knowledge it had come that he had
publicly been accused of being a traitor and a murderer,
issued a public challenge, offering to fight, in single com-
bat, and to the death, any man, of whatsoever estate
he might be, who took it on himself to support such a
charge. It was taken up by Alexander Stuart of Garlics.
He ridiculed the style assumed by Grange — a style more
befitting the chief nobility or even the Royal Blood, than
one whose father had but eight ox-gangs, and whose pro-
genitors were, for the most part, saltmakers. ' Nevertheless/
he continued, ' although thou art so notorious a traitor,
that this action should be decided by other judges than by
the adventure of arms, I, Alexander Stuart of Garlies, will
offer myself to prove thy vile and filthy treason with my
person against thine, as the law and custom of arms
requireth : with protestation, that it shall not be pre-
judicial to my honour, nor to my blood, to compare my-
self with so late a printed gentleman, manifestly known
to have committed, at sundry times, divers treasons ; and
taken out of the galleys to be kept for the gallows.'

There ensued a long correspondence between Grange
and Garlies. Stripped of the accusations, recriminations,
and contemptuous allusions to birth and rank, it resolved
itself into a wrangle as to the choice of a fitting place for
the encounter. Neither party would accept the views of

134 FAMOUS SCOTS

the other as to a sufficiently neutral ground ; and after
dragging through many weeks, the quarrel was left un-
decided.

In the meantime, Grange had figured in a less personal
and more important incident. Under his auspices, the
Queen's Lords, to whom he delivered the regalia for the
occasion, held a Parliament in Edinburgh. Their first act
was to invalidate Mary's abdication, and, as a consequence,
to repudiate the transfer of the royal authority to her son
and the Regent acting on his behalf. The next was to
decree that no change should be made in the form of
religion or administration of the sacraments. At a sub-
sequent sitting, they pronounced a decree of forfeiture
against the Earl of Morton and some two hundred of the
King's party. In retaliation, the King's Lords, in a
Parliament of their own, held at Stirling, dealt in the same
manner with their opponents. But their meeting was to
be marked by an event of far greater moment. Grange,
who had been informed of their imprudent negligence in
not even appointing guards to insure their safety, planned
a daring expedition, of which the object was nothing less
than the capture of all the leading men of the faction,
including the Regent himself.

It was at first Kirkcaldy's intention to conduct the raid
in person. But the Lords and Council would not allow
him, alleging that ' their only comfort under God con-
sisted in his preservation.' They undertook scrupulously
to follow his instructions, and at his earnest request,
promised to respect the lives of the captives. He
yielded to their urgent entreaties, but not till the Laird
of Wormeston, one of the most honourable gentlemen of
the party, had pledged his word to save the Regent's life
at every risk.

Between five and six o'clock on the evening of the 3rd
of September, Huntly, accompanied with three hundred and
forty horse, set out from Edinburgh, and reached Stirling

KIRKCALDY OF GRANGE 135

before day-break. Dismounting about a mile from the
town, lest the clattering of the horses' feet should betray
them, the party entered it by a secret passage, between
four and five in the morning. Lennox and his friends
were surprised in their houses and captured. They
would have been brought safely to Edinburgh if the
soldiers and Borderers had not fallen to spoiling. The
disorder which followed enabled the enemy to rally.
There was a sharp skirmish, in the course of which
the Regent was shot. Wormeston had proved so faith-
ful to his trust that the fatal bullet passed through his
body before striking Lennox.

The assailants were ultimately obliged to retire, but
not till they had held possession of the town for more
than three hours. On their return to Edinburgh, they
were very unwelcome guests to the Laird of Grange.
He was convinced that if, by bringing the Regent to
Edinburgh, he had been able to withdraw him from
the influence of Morton and of the English agent
Randolph, an end might have been put to the dis-
astrous struggle. With the death of Murray a peaceful
settlement became well nigh hopeless.

Captain George Bell and James Calder, who had been
taken prisoners on the retreat from Stirling, were by
torture, compelled to confess that they had special
instructions from the Hamiltons to slay the Regent.
Calder's confession is significantly signed 'James Calder
with my hand laid on the pen because I cannot write.'
In a very remarkable letter addressed by Grange and
Lethington to Drury, the blame of Lennox's death is
imputed to his own associates, who are accused of using
the opportunity given by the tumult for obtaining that
which they had long sought after. The writers not only
point out that the Hamiltons, whom the Regent had the
greatest cause to fear, were those who surprised him
in his house, and that they might have taken his life

136 FAMOUS SCOTS

then and there; but they also assert that they them-
selves had previously been urged to concur in Murray's
destruction.

Within twenty-four hours a new Regent was appointed.
Randolph was anxious that the choice of the Lords
should fall on Morton, but they preferred to elect the
Earl of Mar.

XII. THE MERCAT CROSS

THE Earl of Mar's Regency lasted a little over a year,
— from the beginning of September 1571 to the 2Qth of
October 1572. The secret history of the period is con-
tained in a long series of communications between
Elizabeth and her Ministers on the one hand, and the
heads of the two contending parties on the other. The
subject was still the pacification of the Kingdom ; but the
discovery of the Duke of Norfolk's plot, in favour of
Mary Stuart, had modified the English Queen's policy
with respect to the Castilians, as the holders of the
Castle were termed. It supplied her with a plausible
excuse for casting aside even the semblance of a desire
to reinstate her captive; and the spirit in which the
negotiations with Grange and Lethington were conducted
is illustrated by the following summons delivered to them
in her name : — ' Her Majesty's pleasure is, that ye leave
off the maintenance of civil discord, and give your
obedience to the King, whom she will maintain to
the uttermost of her power. And if ye will so do, she
will deal with the Regent and the King's party to receive
you in favour, upon reasonable conditions, for security
of life and livings. In respect the Queen of Scots hath
practised with the Pope, other Princes, and her own
subjects, great and dangerous treasons against the state
of the country, and destruction of her own person, she
will never suffer her to be in authority, so far as in her
lieth ; nor to have liberty while she liveth. If ye refuse
these offers, her Majesty will presently aid the King's

137

138 FAMOUS SCOTS

party with men, munition, and other things against
you. Whereupon her Majesty desireth your answer
with speed.'

In the meantime, hostilities were being carried on with
the greatest ferocity by both factions. As Bannatyne
reports, there was 'nothing but hanging on either side.'
The chronicles and the correspondence of the time record,
as common occurrences, the most cold-blooded atrocities.
It is related in the Historic of King James the Sext,
that a band of Queen's soldiers from Edinburgh were
attacked by a body of the King's partisans, to whom
they were obliged to surrender and give up their
weapons. ' But the horsemen of Leith, after they had
received them as prisoners, slew fifteen of the most able
and strong men of them ; the remainder they drove to
Leith like sheep, stabbing and dunting them with spears,
where they were all hanged without further process.'
Randolph reported to Lord Hunsdon that nothing was
left undone on either side that might annoy the other,
that the Regent, to keep the Castilians from victuals, had
placed men in Craigmillar, Redshawe, and Corstorphine,
and had broken down all the mills to the number of thirty
or more within four miles of Edinburgh, and that he had
sent three hundred Highland men to the villages and
cottages about the town to intercept and spoil all that
attempted to repair to the Castle. Those of the other
side made reprisals by hanging not only the prisoners
whom they had received to mercy, but those who after-
wards fell into their hands. Lord Hunsdon informed
Elizabeth that four horsemen of the Castle having been
taken in a skirmish, were immediately hanged ; and that
those of the Castle, for revenge, after dinner, hanged five
of their opponents. When fuel was scarce in the town,
the garrison of the Castle threw down several houses of
the adverse faction, and sold the timber at an exorbitant
price. They further appointed a functionary, nick-named

KIRKCALDY OF GRANGE 139

by the populace the Captain of the Chimneys, to take
account of such houses as had been abandoned by King's
men, and sell them by public auction. These stern pro-
ceedings so terrified the neutral citizens, that they fled to
Leith ; but instead of finding protection there they were
driven back to the Capital, and threatened with the gibbet
as spies. So strictly were supplies to the city prohibited
that the country people who attempted to smuggle in
provisions were barbarously put to death. Two men and
one woman, from Wester Edmonstoune, were hanged for
bringing leeks and salt to Edinburgh. Lethington, writing
to Queen Mary, told her that when poor women hazarded,
during the night, to bring in some victuals for them-
selves and their poor bairns, they were hanged without
mercy.

' By that way,' he said, 'they have hangit a great number
of women, and some of them with bairn, and parted with
bairn upon the gallows, a cruelty not heard of in any
country.' If both parties displayed the same vindictive
spirit in the commission of these outrages, the voice of
the people by whom ' this form of dealing was called the
Douglas wars,' proclaimed the guilt of Morton as the
originator of them.

That Grange and his friends were not responsible for
continuing the disastrous struggle, even the English
agents admitted. Lord Hunsdon, writing to Burghley,
about the end of April, confessed that it passed his
capacity any more to deal with the parties in Scotland.
' The Castle side,' he said, ' require surety of their lives,
lands, goods, and honours, where they have reason ; and
the keeping of the Castle, because they would be loath
to put themselves into their new reconciled friends' hands
until they see some proof how they and their friends will
be dealt with. On the King's side, their malice is so
deadly against some of the Castle as they have more
respect to be revenged than regard to the Commonwealth;

140 FAMOUS SCOTS

others are so resolved to keep such offices, spoils, and
authority as they possess by these troubles, that they will
never agree to any composition by treaty ; the meaner
sort who live upon entertainment and such spoils as now
and then they can get, and live uncontrolled of any what-
soever they do, cannot abide to hear of peace.'

For the next three months negotiations still dragged
on. Neither threats nor persuasions could induce
Kirkcaldy to consent to the one condition without
which his opponents were determined that there should
be no peace — the surrender of the Castle. In an evil
hour for themselves however, he and Lethington so far
yielded to the representations and solicitations of the
English Court as to agree to a truce. The conditions
were that it should last for two months from the 3oth
of July ; that, during that time there should be a meeting
of the noblemen of the Kingdom to treat for peace ; and
that, if they should not agree, they should refer the
difference between them to the arbitration of the King
of France and Queen of England, promising upon their
honour to accept all the conditions their Majesties should
propose to them. During the truce all the subjects of
the realm should be at liberty freely to traffic, haunt, or
converse together unmolested. The town of Edinburgh
was to be set at liberty the same as it was when the late
Regent quitted it on the 2yth of January 1570 ; and the
Castle to be kept with no greater garrison than it had at
that date.

On the nth of the following month Grange and
Lethington had already ground for complaint that,
contrary to promise, ' the town was still guarded and
garrisoned as a town of war.' A few days later they
drew up a formal protest in which they stated that the
Capital was occupied by companies of soldiers and towns-
men, who kept watch and ward day and night, and con-
tinually used the Kirk and Tolbooth as guard-houses.

KIRKCALDY OF GRANGE 141

Leith also, they said, was guarded as in time of war, in
contravention of the abstinence. Men-at-arms were lodged
upon the poor, to be fed at their expense ; and in many
cases the inhabitants were forbidden to enter their own
houses, which had been taken possession of by the
soldiery.

In the beginning of September, a new agent, Killegrew,
was dispatched to Scotland for the ostensible purpose of
effecting a compromise between the two parties, but in
reality with a view to arranging with Morton for the secret
execution of Queen Mary. All that his intervention
achieved was the prolongation of the truce till the ist of
January. The result of his secret mission, however, was
to secure the complicity of Mar and Morton in Elizabeth's
scheme for the destruction of her rival, on condition that
they should receive help from England for the subjugation
of the Castilians, at the expiration of the truce.

When Killegrew arrived in Scotland, the Earl of Mar
was lying ill at Tantallon Castle, and it was there the
English ambassador had his first interview with him. He
recovered sufficiently to be removed to Stirling. On the
27th of October, it was reported to Burghley that he had
been bled, and was ' somewhat amended.' The very next
day, however, he died, with a suddenness that gave rise
to a suspicion of poison. Rather less than a month later,
Morton was chosen to succeed him.

The day that the new Regent was elected, there
occurred another important event, which was destined
to exercise great influence on Kirkcaldy's fate. On that
same 24th of November, John Knox died in Edinburgh,
to which he had returned shortly before in a sinking con-
dition. As he lay on his death-bed he desired his friend,
David Lindsay, the minister of Leith, to take a message
from him to the Laird of Grange. " ' Go, I pray you,' he
said, ' and tell him that I have sent you to him yet once
to warn him ; and bid him, in the name of God, leave

M2 FAMOUS SCOTS

that evil cause, and give over that Castle. If not, he
shall be brought down over the walls of it with shame,
and hang against the sun. So God hath assured me.'
Mr David thought the message hard, yet went to the
Castle, and meeteth first with Sir Robert Melville walking
on the wall, and told him what was his errand ; who, as
he thought, was much moved with the matter. There-
after he communed with the Captain, whom he thought
also somewhat moved. But he went from him in to
Secretary Lethington, with whom, when he had conferred
a little, he came out to Mr David again, and said, ' Go,
tell Mr Knox he is but a drytting prophet.' Mr David
returned to Mr Knox and reported how he had discharged
his commission ; but that it was not well accepted of the
Captain after he had conferred with the Secretary. 'Well,'
said Mr Knox, ' I have been earnest with my God anent
the two men. For the one, I am sorry that so shall befall
him, yet God assureth me that there is mercy for his soul.
For the other, I have no warrant that ever he shall be
well.' Mr David thought the speech hard, yet laid it up
in his mind till Mr Knox was at rest with God, and
found the truth which he had spoken within a few days
after."

When the last day of the truce arrived, no step towards
the pacification of the Kingdom had been taken. The
King's party continued to make demands which the
Castilians, hopeful of help from the King of France,
absolutely refused to entertain, and the resumption of
hostilities was inevitable. On the ist of January, at six
o'clock in the morning, Kirkcaldy 'warned all men to
take heed to themselves, by a shot of a piece out of the
Castle.' A little later in the morning, 'the war began
by shot of arquebuss, but did no harm.' Next day the
Castilians fired eight rounds at the steeple of St Giles's.
No one was hurt in the church itself, but some shot that
missed it, having broken down the neighbouring chimneys,

KIRKCALDY OF GRANGE 143

one poor man was killed and two were wounded by their
fall. If Killegrew's reports to Burghley are to be believed,
either the Castle gunners must have been poor marksmen,
or Grange must at first have instructed them to discharge
their artillery rather in the hope of frightening the citizens
than for the purpose of causing them serious loss or injury.
One despatch states that on the i6th of January they
fired eighty-seven cannon and culverin shot at the town,
' but did no more harm but killed one dog going to the
Regent's house/ Men, women, and children, the writer
asserts, walked quietly in the streets, as though there were
no shot ; and even went to the church, which had been
fenced in with a rampart of turf, faggots, and other stuff.
One of the chroniclers, on the other hand, presents a
wholly different picture. * None/ he says, ' might walk
safely on the streets of Edinburgh for shooting out of the
Castle.' The truth may not improbably be that the
gunners could fire effectively enough when it was thought
there was occasion for it.

Before the end of the first month the besieged were
already beginning to suffer from want of water. On the
25th, Killegrew informed Burghley that they had found
it necessary to get their supply by sallying out of a
postern beside St Cuthbert's Church and drawing it from
St Margaret's well, hard by. The besiegers, noticing
this, poisoned the well with white arsenic and new lime
stones, and filled it up with dead carrion. The garrison
then devised a plan for drawing water out of a ditch near
the Castle; but before it could be put into execution,
the Regent was informed of it by a deserter, and drained
the ditch. In the same communication, Killegrew stated
that the surveyor of Berwick and Mr Fleming, the master-
gunner, had been with the besiegers for the last week, and
were helping Morton to lay out the trenches, of which the
works were progressing apace.

It was not to open warfare alone that Kirkcaldy's

144 FAMOUS SCOTS

enemies trusted to force him into subjection. Even
before the resumption of hostilities, Morton had begun
negotiations with the Queen's Lords in other parts of
the country. One after another, the Captain's former
associates fell away from him. Sir James Balfour was the
first, Argyle, Huntly, Chastelherault, and the Hamiltons
followed; and their submission made it hopeless and
useless for the lesser men to stand out alone. By the
beginning of April, the Privy Council was able to
announce that ' good peace was restored over all the
country, the Castle of Edinburgh excepted.'

From another quarter too, there fell an unexpected
blow. Through the treachery of his own wife, James
Kirkcaldy, who had hitherto successfully acted as his
brother's agent with the Court of France, was captured,
together with a considerable sum of money, which Mary
had supplied from her dowry, and on which the Castilians
were depending. Within the Castle, Maitland was as firm
and uncompromising as the Governor himself; indeed,
his enemies attributed the obstinate resistance of the
soldier to the ' enchantment ' cast over him by the
statesman. But though the Secretary's mental vigour
was undiminished, his bodily health was so shattered
that, when it was intended to discharge the heavy
ordnance, he had to be carried down into the low
vault of ' David's Tower,' as he could not ' abide the
shot.'

For all this, there was no wavering on the part of
Kirkcaldy. He felt the fullest confidence as to his
ability to hold out, so long as he had Morton alone
to deal with; and he believed that fear of irritating
the French Court, and unwillingness to incur the heavy
expenses of sending a siege train to Scotland might yet
deter Elizabeth from lending active assistance to the
Regent. In spite of the besiegers' utmost efforts to
prevent him, he continued the work of fortifying the

KIRKCALDY OF GRANGE 145

Castle with earth, stone, and timber; and indeed, in
his determination to 'give the Earl of Morton and all
his men of war enough to do to wait upon him,' he
omitted nothing that experience could suggest or courage
carry out, to add to the natural strength of the fortress.

Unfortunately for the Captain, the six or seven score
fighting men that made up his garrison were not all
animated with the same spirit. Not one of them had
ever stood a siege before, and the hardships which they
had to undergo were beginning to tell on them both
morally and physically. Obliged, with but little inter-
mission, to fight their guns by day, and by night to
repair the damage done to their outworks, and having
to subsist on the one pint of water and the scant rations
of salt-beef that Lady Kirkcaldy distributed to them daily,
'they were all ill-like in the face with over- working or
watching.' They were beginning to feel too that there
was no remedy or recompense to be looked for at
Grange's hands ; and some of them, indeed, were
already anxious to make terms for themselves. As the
Captain's increasing watchfulness left them no opportunity
of communicating directly with the enemy, they cast a
letter enclosed in a glove over the walls, trusting to
the finder to take it to those for whom it was intended.
It contained a request that, if there were any hope of
mercy for the garrison, a certain sign should be made in
a certain place, and they would come forth. On the part
of Morton, nothing was left undone to foster this spirit of
mutiny; and his secret agents were not only authorised
to promise a free pardon in his name, to such as were
already planning to desert from the Castle, but also to
bribe the others, by distributing two thousand crowns
amongst them.

The discontent that was spreading amongst his men
did not escape the Captain's vigilance. Calling them
together, he asked if any amongst them wished to

K

146 FAMOUS SCOTS

abandon the cause. Lord Home's resolute reply, that
he would serve as a private soldier, both by day and
night, 'stopped the mouths of the meaner sort,' though,
according to Killegrew, they meant to make a very
different answer, and though many were anxious to come
away, if only they might well get forth.

In the meantime, the negotiations which had been
dragging on between the Regent and the English Court,
had effected a definite result. On the i3th of April, a pro-
clamation issued in the name of King James, announced
that the assistance of England had been secured, with a
view to putting an end to the Civil War, and that a body
of English troops would soon arrive to reinforce the
besieging army. Twelve days later, an English con-
tingent, under Sir William Drury, arrived in Edinburgh,
and a final summons was sent to Sir William Kirkcaldy
of Grange, and the other holders and retainers of the
Castle of Edinburgh, to surrender it, with the artillery,
munitions, and household stuff; and to remove, devoid,
and rid themselves, their wives and servants forth of it,
within six hours. Being intended for the wavering
soldiers, and not for their resolute leader, this summons
was not delivered to the Governor in writing, but was
publicly proclaimed by a herald. To drown his voice
Kirkcaldy ordered his drums to beat; and the only
reply he vouchsafed to make was, that he wist not what
the messenger had declared.

The ordnance sent from England was disembarked at
Leith, on the 26th of April. Next day, besides running
up the Scottish Queen's standard, the Governor of the
Castle hoisted ' a banner of red colour, denouncing war
and defiance, upon the chief tower of the Castle called
King David's Tower.' Including 'both tag and rag,'
there were at that moment one hundred and ninety-two
persons within the Castle. Forty-two of them were
women, and thirteen were boys. That left a hundred

KIRKCALDY OF GRANGE 147

and thirty men, not all soldiers, besides the Governor
himself; and of these according to Killegrew's informa-
tion, eighteen of the best would fain have been out.

It took much longer than had been anticipated to
get the ordnance into position. By the 5th of May, of
twenty-four pieces of battery and four mortars, there were
but six planted ; and the month was half through before
'the artillery of England was placed about the Castle
of Edinburgh in this manner. On the north side of
Mr John Thornton's lodging on the Castle Hill lay the
cannon royal, and two other cannons; on the crofts of
the Grey Friars, lay three great culverin; at the Scots
crofts lay six great culverin ; above the west side of St
Cuthbert's Kirk lay two Scottish iron pieces ; at the north
side two Scots great culverins, and my Lord Argyle's
cannon, with four pott pieces ; at the lang gait on the
east side of the said pott pieces lay three small pieces,
with strong and deep trenches in all parts.' At length,
on Sunday, the i;th of May, at one in the afternoon,
'some of the pieces began to speak such language that
it made them in the Castle think more of God than they
did before.' When the first ' tier ' of ordnance was dis-
charged, the women within the walls uttered a great and
lamentable cry, 'terming the day and hour black.' ' The
soldiers, however,' says Drury, ' showed themselves in no
small companies here and there, but especially they
showed many on the top of St David's Tower, with
great pride displaying two ensigns, and shooting at every
advantage they saw.' To what good effect the Castilians
plied their guns may be learnt from BirrelPs Diary.
' Ther wes,' he says, ' a very grate slaughter amongst the
English canoniers, sundries of them having ther legges
and armes torne from their bodies in the aire by the
viholence of the grape shot.'

On the 2ist of May the English gunners began batter-
ing St David's Tower ; and two days later a large portion

i48 FAMOUS SCOTS

of it came crushing down. The 26th saw the capture of
an important position called the 'Spur.' This disaster,
combined with the growing dissatisfaction of his men,
who complained that Lady Grange scanted their victuals,
that were scant enough already, at length obliged the
Governor to beat a parley. A two days' truce was granted,
and negotiations were opened with a view to the surrender
of the Castle. The three thousand great shot, which,
according to Drury's computation, had been fired at the
fortress, had wrought such havoc that no practicable
means of exit was left. In order to meet Drury, Grange,
Pitarrow, and Robert Melville had to be let down by a
rope over the wall.

The conditions demanded by the besieged were that
they should have surety for the lives and livings of all
that were within the Castle, that Lethington and Lord
Home, because of particular quarrels might go into
England, and that Grange should remain in Scot-
land, with a licence to depart the realm if he found
himself ill-used. Morton was quite willing to spare the
soldiers, and he took special care that they should be
informed of it ; but he insisted that the surrender should
be unconditional as regarded Grange, Lethington, and
nine others, including the two goldsmiths who had coined
money for the use of the Castilians. On hearing this,
Kirkcaldy went back to the Castle determined to hold
out to the last. But the men were now in open mutiny.
They declared their determination of hanging Maitland
from the battlements if he did not urge Grange to sur-
render, and of handing the Governor himself to Morton,
if he still refused to yield. There was no alternative.
On the 2 gth of May Sir William gave himself up to
Drury who, in recognition of the courage which he
had displayed, allowed him to leave the Castle with his
arms. The citizens had suffered too much at his hands
to entertain any generous feeling towards him, and as he

KIRKCALDY OF GRANGE 149

and his companions were led through the crowd to the
lodgings of Drury, jeers and insults were heaped upon
him. The balladist Semple has described the scene : —

' Thair wes compleit the prophecie of Knox :
Doun fra that Crag Kirkcaldy sail reteir,
With schame and sclander lyke ane hundit fox.'

With gild * of pepile sa thay brocht thame doun,
As birdis but plumis, spulizeit of the nest :
Part cryde : ' quhair is he ? lat vs se the loun ;
Go to and staen him ; lat him tak na rest.'

Quhen thay yt buir him saw thame selfis opprest,
Thay cryit for succour for to saue thair lyuis :
The Generallis lugeing, thair thay thocht it best,
Thay led him in, thay war sa red f for wyuis.'

For three days Grange was allowed to go about freely,
rather as a guest than a captive, but at the end of that
time he was treated as a prisoner.

One of Morton's first cares, after the surrender of
Edinburgh Castle, was to demand that the jewels which
Queen Mary was known to have left there when she fled
from her capital, should be delivered up to him. His greed,
however, was doomed to disappointment. The greater
part of the treasure upon which he was so characteristic-
ally anxious to lay hands, had already been disposed of.
Indeed, the Queen's diamonds had been the chief source
of the garrison's credit during the three years that the
Castle was held for her. In 1570 several objects of
value had been sent by Kirkcaldy to be sold in London.
Elizabeth, however, had got information, and not only
stopped the sale, but ordered the articles to be detained.
The Governor met with better success in France; and
when, in the following spring, his brother arrived in Leith
with munitions and stores, it was commonly reported that
they had been purchased with the price of some of Mary's
diamonds.

* clamour. t afraid.

150 FAMOUS SCOTS

The next year, another parcel of jewels was said to
have been sold to a secret agent of Queen Elizabeth's
for two thousand five hundred pounds. At various other
times, objects of value had been given in pledge to
merchants and others for moneys advanced to supply
the needs of the beleaguered garrison. There was con-
sequently but little left at the time of the surrender;
but to prevent even that from falling into Morton's
hands, some of it had been hidden in a crevice of the
Castle rock. A confession having been extracted from
Morsman to the effect that at the last moment he had
made over certain valuables to Kirkcaldy, the Governor
was called upon to restore them. He replied that he
had, indeed, got some gear in an evil favoured clout,
but did not see what it was, and had thrown it into an
open coffer in his room. He protested that he had taken
nothing out of the Castle but the clothes on his back and
four crowns in his purse.

From the moment that Grange and Lethington sur-
rendered as prisoners to the English, Morton resolved
that their lives should pay the penalty of their open
defiance of his authority, and he did not hesitate to
declare that he thought them ' fitter for God than for this
world, for sundry considerations.' He accordingly de-
manded that they should be given over to him ; and after
some hesitation real or pretended, Elizabeth granted his
request. Whilst she still seemed to be wavering the two
prisoners wrote the following appeal to Burghley : —

* MY LORD, — The malice of our enemies is the more
increased against us, that they have seen us rendered in
the Queen's Majesty's will, and now to seek refuge at her
highness's hands. And, therefore, we doubt not but they
will go about by all means possible to procure mischief;
yea, that their cruel minds shall lead them to that im-
pudency to crave our bloods at her Majesty's hands. But

KIRKCALDY OF GRANGE 151

whatsoever their malice be, we cannot fear that it shall
take success ; knowing with how gracious a Princess we
have to do, which hath given so many good proofs to the
world of her clemency and mild nature, that we cannot
mistrust that the first example of the contrary shall be
shewn upon us. We take this to be her very natural,
Parcere subjectis, et debellare superbos.

' We have rendered ourselves to her Majesty, which to
our own countrymen we would never have done, for no
extremity that might have come. We trust her Majesty
will not put us out of her hands to make any others,
especially our mortal enemy, our masters. If it will please
her Majesty to extend her most gracious clemency towards
us, she may be as assured to have us as perpetually at her
devotion as any of this nation, yea, as any subject of her
own ; for now with honour we may oblige ourselves to her
Majesty farther than before we might, and her Majesty's
benefit will bind us perpetually. In the case we are in,
we must confess we are of small value; yet may her
Majesty put us in ease, that perhaps hereafter we will be
able to serve her Majesty's turn, which occasion being
offered, assuredly there shall be no inlack of good-will.
Your Lordship knoweth already what our request is ; we
pray your Lordship to further it. There was never time
wherein your Lordship's friendship might stand us in such
stead. As we have oftentimes heretofore tasted thereof,
so we humbly pray you let it not inlack us now, in time of
this our great misery, when we have more need than ever
we had. Whatsoever our deservings have been, forget
not your own good natural. If, by your Lordship's
mediation, her Majesty conserve us, your Lordship shall
have us perpetually bound to do you service.

* Let not the misreports of our enemies prevail against
us. When we are in her Majesty's hands she may make
us what pleaseth her.

'From Edinburgh, the ist June 1573.'

152 FAMOUS SCOTS

The petition was unheeded. A few days later Drury
was instructed to hand over his prisoners to the Regent.
In the meantime Maitland had died, — it is difficult to
determine whether it was from natural causes or 'after
the old Roman fashion, to prevent his coming to the
shambles' — and Grange was left to bear the brunt of
Morton's revenge.

On the 3rd of August, Sir William Kirkcaldy and his
brother James, together with Morsman and Cockie, the
two goldsmiths who had coined money in the Queen's
name, were brought to trial and condemned to death.
Between the passing of the sentence and its execution in
the afternoon of the same day, a final and frantic effort
was made to save the Laird of Grange. Five score gentle-
men,— kinsmen, friends, and well-wishers, — the least of
them having heritage worth five hundred marks Scots a
year, offered to become servants, themselves and their
offspring, perpetually, to the houses of Angus and Morton,
by giving their bond of man-rent; and, in addition to that,
to pay twenty pounds annually, for more thraldom. They
further promised to hand over twenty thousand pounds
to the Regent, before the following Michaelmas, and to
restore twenty thousand pounds of the Queen's jewels
that were in sundry hands. But Morton was under the
influence of a power greater than even his own avarice.
The offers, he admitted to Burghley, were as large as
could possibly have been made; yet, he added, 'con-
sidering what has been, and is, daily spoken by the
preachers, that God's plague will not cease till the land
be purged of blood, and having regard that such as are
interested by the death of their friends, the destruction of
their houses, and the away-taking of their goods, could
not be satisfied by any offer made to me in particular,
I deliberated to let justice proceed.'

It was through David Lindsay, the minister of Leith,
who visited Kirkcaldy after the trial, that this last appeal

KIRKCALDY OF GRANGE 153

for mercy was made. When he returned with a stern
refusal the condemned man said to him : ' Mr David, for
our old friendship and for Christ's sake leave me not.'
A little later, when he saw the scaffold prepared at the
Cross, the day fair and the sun shining brightly, so marked
a change came over him that Lindsay, noticing it, inquired
what affected him. 'Faith, Mr David,' replied he, 'I
perceive well now that Mr Knox was the true servant of
God, and that his threatenings are accomplished.' He
then desired Lindsay to repeat Knox's words. The
minister did so, adding that Knox had told him that he
had been earnest with God for Grange ; that he was sorry
for what should befall his body for the love he bore him ;
but that he was assured there was mercy for his soul.
Kirkcaldy seemed much comforted and encouraged by
this. As the fatal hour drew near he begged Lindsay to
accompany him to the scaffold : ' I hope in God, that
after men shall think I am passed and gone, I shall give
you a token of the assurance of that mercy to my soul
according to the speech of that man of God.'

In the afternoon the Laird of Grange, and Morsman, who
was to be executed with him — James Kirkcaldy and Cockie
were to be hanged later in the day — were drawn backwards
from their prison to the gibbet. It was about four o'clock,
'the sun being west, about the north-west corner of the
steeple, when Sir William was thrust off the ladder. As
he was hanging, his face was set toward the east ; but
within a prettie space turned about to the west against the
sun, and so remained ; at which time Mr David marked
him, when all supposed he was dead, to lift up his hands
which were bound before him, and to lay them down
again softlie ; which moved him with exclamation to glorify
God before all the people.'

Of the man who thus ended his eventful life, his con-
temporary Melville has written : ' He was humble, gentle,
•and meek, like a lamb in the house, but like a lion in

154 FAMOUS SCOTS

the fields. He was a lusty, strong, and well-proportioned
personage, hardy, and of a magnanimous courage, secret
and prudent in all his enterprises, so that never one that
he made or devised misgave, where he was present him-
self. When he was victorious he was very merciful, and
naturally liberal, an enemy to greediness and ambition,
and a friend to all men in adversity. He fell frequently
in trouble in protecting innocent men from such as would
oppress them, so that these his worthy qualifications were
also partly causes and means of his wreck ; for they pro-
moted him so, in the opinion of many, that some loved
him for his religion, uprightness, and manliness; others,
again, depended upon him for his good fortune and
apparent promotion, whereby divers of them hoped to be
advanced and rewarded, supposing that offices and honours
could not fail to fall to him. All which he wanted through
his own default; for he had fled from avarice, and ab-
horred ambition, and refused sundry great offices even to
be Regent, which were in his offer as well as other great
benefices and pensions. Thus wanting place and sub-
sistence to reward he was soon abandoned by his greedy
and ambitious defenders : for when they saw him at a
strait, they drew to others, whom they perceived to aim
at more profitable marks. On the other hand, he was as
much envied by those who were of a vile and unworthy
nature, of whom many have made tragical ends for their
too great avarice and ambition, as shortly after did the
Earl of Morton. This gallant gentleman perished for
being too little ambitious and greedy.'

Nothing that has been recorded in these pages con-
tradicts Melville's eulogy. And posterity may be content
to adopt his estimate of the character of an honourable
man, a brave soldier, and a sincere patriot.

THE END.

INDEX

ARRAN, Earl of, besieges St
Andrews, 29.

BALN EAVES, HENRY, at St
Andrews, 28.

sent to Henry VIII., 30.

a prisoner in France, 42.

BEATON, murder of Cardinal,
20-25.

BOTHWELL accused of murder-
ing Darnley, 84.

carries off Mary, 85.

marries Mary, 89.

retreats to Borthwick

Castle, 89.

at Carberry, 90.

pursued by Kirkcaldy, 94.

CAITHNESS, Bishop of, writes

to Wharton, 56.
CARBERRY HILL, 90.
CARMICHAEL, one of Beaton's

murderers, 24.
a prisoner in France, 42.

DARNLEY, marriage of, 82.
murdered, 84.

EVERS, Lord, Governor of
Berwick, 53.

EVERS, Ralph, meets Kirk-
caldy in single combat, 54.

GRANGE, the, 9.
GUISE, Mary of, attempts to
check the Reformation, 63.

enters Perth, 67.

death of, 79.

HAMILTON, James, a hostage

at St Andrews, 27.
HENRY VIII. negotiates with

James V., 11.

at war with James V., 15.

sends help to St Andrews,

3°.

JAMES V., n.

and the Treasurer, 12.

threatens the Prelates, 12.

rejects alliance with Eng-
land, 15.

defeated at Solway Moss,

16.

at Halyards, 16.

, death of, 17.

JEWELS, the Queen's claimed,
149-

KIRKCALDY, James, 13.

marries Helen Leslie, 18.

his brother's agent, 144.

betrayed by his wife, 144.

executed, 153

KIRKCALDY, John, a prisoner
in England, 53.

attacked by Durie, 118.

KIRKCALDY, Sir George de, 10.

KIRKCALDY, Sir James, 10.

appointed Treasurer, 10.

opposed to Beaton, 10.

arrests Sir James Hamil-
ton, II.

negotiates with Henry

VIII., II.

accused of Heresy, 12.

denounces the Prelates, 12.

plot against him, 13.

plots against Beaton, 21.

156

INDEX

KIRKCALDY, Sir James, at St

Andrews, 28.

a prisoner in France, 42.

, death of, 53.

KIRKCALDY, Sir William de,

10.
KIRKCALDY, Sir William, birth

of, 18.
with James V., 16.

— at the King's death, 18.
educated in France, 20.

at the murder of Beaton,

22.

— sent to Henry VIII., 30.

returns to St Andrews, 32.

a prisoner in France, 42.

escapes from Mt. St.

Michel, 45.

returns to Scotland, 47.

secret agent in France, 48.

serves under Henry II.,

48.

offers his services to Mary

Tudor, 51.

returns to Scotland, 52.

meets Evers in single

combat, 54.
negotiates with Wharton,

56.
his interview with Knox,

67.

writes to Sir H. Percy, 68.

sets forth the Policy of

the Congregation, 69.

declares himself with the

Protestants, 72.

at the siege of Leith, 73.

his house destroyed, 76

harasses the French in

Fife, 77-
reported to be wounded,

78.

Knox's praise of, 78.

besieges Castle Semple,

80.

nearly captures Huntly, 81.

opposes the marriage with

Darnley, 81.

KIRKCALDY, Sir William, in
the Round About Raid, 82.

escapes to England, 83.

returns to Scotland, 83.

writes to Cecil concerning

Darnley's murder, 85.

pursues Mary and Both-

well, 89.

at Carberry, 90.

protests against the treat-
ment of Mary, 92.

pursues Bothwell, 94.

Governor of Edinburgh

Castle, 97.

at Langside, 99.

disapproves of Murray's

policy, 100.

challenges Morton, 103.

rescues Maitland, 105.

his intentions suspected,

108.

justifies his conduct, 109.

his attitude towards Len-
nox, 115.

forcibly rescues a prisoner,

119.

denounced by Knox, 120.

prepares for a siege, 125.

writes a ballad, 126.

his challenge, 127.

justifies his conduct, 128.

his challenge taken up,

'33-

surrenders to Drury, 148.

his appeal to Burghley,

150-

appeal to Morton, 152.

his execution, 153.

— : his character, 153.

KNOX, John, at St Andrews,
28.

a prisoner in France, 41.

returns to England, 47.

preaches in Perth, 65.

urges an appeal to Eng-
land, 67.

denounces Kirkcaldy, 120.

his death, 141.

INDEX

157

LANGSIDE, battle of, 99.
LEITH besieged by the Con-
gregation, 73.

siege of, raised, 74.

LENNOX appointed Regent,

"5-

his death, 135.

LESLEY, John, one of Beaton's

murderers, 24.
LESLEY, Norman, one of

Beaton's murderers, 21.

a prisoner in France, 42.

death of, 49.

LESLIE, Helen, 13.

married to James Kirk-

caldy, 1 8.

betrays her husband.

LINDSAY, Sir David, at St

Andrews, 28.

M AITLAND of Lethington joins
the Congregation, 73.

impeached, 102.

finds refuge in Edinburgh

Castle, 105.

during the siege, 144.

appeals to Burghley, 151.

his death, 152.

MAR appointed Regent, 136.

his death, 141.

MARY STUART returns to Scot-
land, 81.

marries Darnley, 82.

pursues the malcontents,

82.

carried off by Bothwell,

85-

marries Bothwell, 89.

retreats to Borthwick

Castle, 89.

MARY STUART at Carberry,
90.

escapes from Lochleven,

97-
takes the field against

Murray, 98.

at Langside, 99.

MORTON appointed Regent,

141.
MURRAY appointed Regent,

97-
takes the field against

Mary, 98.

at Langside, 99.

death of, 106.

PERTH, religious riots in, 66.

the Congregation departs

from, 67.

Mary of Guise enters, 67.

PITTENWEEM, Prior of, 14.

Rizzio murdered, 84.
ROUND ABOUT RAID, 82.

SEMPLE, poetical appeal to
Kirkcaldy, 116.

his description of Kirk-

caldy's surrender, 149.

SINCLAIR, Master of, Kirk-
caldy's comrade, 76.

ST ANDREWS, Castle of, be-
sieged, 26-40.

STIRLING, the Raid of, 134.

STROZZI at the siege of St
Andrews, 37.

WHARTON negotiates with
Kirkcaldy, 58.

FAMOUS SCOTS SERIES

The following Volumes are in preparation : —

GEORGE BUCHANAN. By ROBERT WALLACE, M.P.

JEFFREY AND THE EDINBURGH REVIEWERS. By
Sir HUGH GILZEAN REID.

ADAM SMITH. By HECTOR C. MACPHERSON.
MUNGO PARK. By T. BANKS MACLACHLAN.
ROBERT FERGUSSON. By A. B. GROSART.
JAMES THOMSON. By WILLIAM BAYNE.
DAVID HUME. By Professor C ALDER WOOD.
THOMAS REID. By Professor CAMPBELL FRASER.

OPINIONS OF THE PRESS ON THE
"FAMOUS SCOTS" SERIES.

Of SIR WALTER SCOTT, by GEORGE SAINTSBURY,

The Pall Mall Gazette says :—

" Mr Saintsbury's miniature is a gem of its kind. ... Mr Saintsbury's critique
of the Waverley Novels will, I venture to think, despite all that has been written
upon them, discover fresh beauties for their admirers."

Of THOMAS CARLYLE, by H. C. MACPHERSON,

The Literary World says : —

" One of the. very best little books on Carlyle yet written, far out-weighing in
value some more pretentious works with which we are familiar."

Of ALLAN RAMSAY, by OLIPHANT SMEATON,

The Scotsman says : —

"It is not a patchwork picture, but one in which the writer, taking genuine
interest in his subject, and bestowing conscientious pains on his task, has his
materials well in hand, and has used them to produce a portrait that is both life-
like and well balanced."

Of HUGH MILLER, by W. KEITH LEASK,

The Expository Times says : —

11 It is a right good book and a right true biography. . . . There is a very fine
sense of Hugh Miller's greatness as a man and a Scotsman ; there is also a fine
choice of language in making k ours."

Of JOHN KNOX, by A. TAYLOR INNES,

Mr Hay Fleming in the Bookman says : —

11 A masterly delineation of those stirring times in Scotland, and of that famous
Scot who helped so much to shape them."

Of ROBERT BURNS, by GABRIEL SETOUN,

The New Age says : —

11 It is the best thing on Burns we have yet had, almost as good as Carlyle's
Essay and the pamphlet published by Dr Nichol of Glasgow."

Of THE BALLAD ISTS, by JOHN GEDDIE,

The Spectator says :—

"The author has certainly made a contribution of remarkable value to the
literary history of Scotland. We do not know of a book in which the subject has
been treated with deeper sympathy or out of a fuller knowledge."

Of RICHARD CAMERON, by Professor HERKLESS,

The Dundee Courier says : —

" In selecting Professor Herkless to prepare this addition to the ' Famous Scots
Series ' of books, the publishers have made an excellent choice. The vigorous,
manly style adopted is exactly suited to the subject, and Richard Cameron is
presented to the reader in a manner as interesting as it is impressive. . . .
Professor Herkless has done remarkably well, and the portrait he has so cleverly
delineated of one of Scotland's most cherished heroes is one that will never fade."

PRESS OPINIONS ON "FAMOUS SCOTS" SERIES — continued

Of SIR JAMES YOUNG SIMPSON, by EVE BLANTYRE
SIMPSON,

The Daily Chronicle says : —

" It is indeed long since we have read such a charmingly- written biography as
this little Life of the most typical and ' Famous Scot ' that his countrymen have
been proud of since the time of Sir Walter. . . . There is not a dull, irrelevant, or
superfluous page in all Miss Simpson's booklet, and she has performed the
biographer's chief duty — that of selection — with consummate skill and judgment."

Of THOMAS CHALMERS, by W. GARDEN BLAIKIE,

The Spectator says : —

" The most notable feature of Professor Blaikie's book— and none could be more
commendable — is its perfect balance and proportion. In other words, justice is
done equally to the private and to the public life of Chalmers, if possible greater
justice than has been done by Mrs Oliphant."

Of JAMES BOSWELL, by W. KEITH LEASK,

The Morning Leader says : —

" Mr W. K. Leask has approached the biographer of Johnson in the only possible
way by which a really interesting book could have been arrived at — by way of the
open mind. . . . The defence of Boswell in the concluding chapter of his delightful
study is one of the finest and most convincing passages that have recently appeared
in the field of British biography."

Of TOBIAS SMOLLETT, by OLIPHANT SMEATON,

The Weekly Scotsman says : —

"The book is written in a crisp and lively style. . . . The picture of the great
novelist is complete and lifelike. Not only does Mr Smeaton give a scholarly
sketch and estimate of Smollett's literary career, he constantly keeps the reader in
conscious touch and sympathy with his personality, and produces a portrait of the
man as a man which is not likely to be readily forgotten."

Of FLETCHER OF SALTOUN, by W. G. T. OMOND,

The Leeds Mercury says : —

" Unmistakably the most interesting and complete story of the life of Fletcher of
Saltoun that has yet appeared. Mr Omond has had many facilities placed at his
disposal, and of these he has made excellent use."

Of THE BLACKWOOD GROUP, by Sir GEORGE DOUGLAS,

The Weekly Citizen says :—

"It need not be said that to everyone interested in the literature of the first half
of the century, and especially to every Scotsman so interested, ' The Blackwood
Group' is a phrase abounding in promise. And really Sir George Douglas fulfils
the promise he tacitly makes in his title. He is intimately acquainted not only
with the books of the different members of the 'group,' but also with their environ-
ment, social and otherwise. Besides, he writes with sympathy as well as know-
ledge."

Of NORMAN MACLEOD, by JOHN WELLWOOD,

The Star says :—

" A worthy addition to the ' Famous Scots Series' is that of Norman Macleod,
the renowned minister of the Barony in Glasgow, and a man as typical of every-
thing generous and broadminded in the State Church in Scotland as Thomas
Guthrie was in the Free Churches. The biography is the work of John Wellwood,
who has approached it with proper appreciation of the robustness of the subject."

,

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Barbe, Louis A.

Kirkcaldy of Grange